A SECRET garden has been officially opened to the public in the heart of Slough town centre.

The garden, which was officially opened by Mayor Amjad Abbasi on Tuesday (July 18), has been created by a women's group at the Ujala Foundation community centre.

The group worked to transform a space behind the community centre that was “disused, unloved and a dumping ground for rubbish”.

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) worked with the group to make the space as wildlife-friendly as possible.

The “green haven” has a new wildlife pond, hedgehog house, a ‘bug hotel’, and vegetable patch.

BBOWT Community Officer Barbara Polonara, who has guided the work from the start, said the grand opening was a great success.

Ms Polonara started helping to create the garden in January as part of BBOWT's Nextdoor Nature project which is helping people across Slough connect with nature.

She said: “The point of the open day, and of the whole garden, is to bring people together to help wildlife and also help their own health and wellbeing, and we absolutely saw that happening on Tuesday.

“One of the visitors said the big advantage of the garden is that it feels so safe - you can go and read a book and have a quite time, and that's so valuable - especially for elderly people who sometimes don't leave their flats very often."

Ms Polonara said they were all inspired by the success of the Ujala garden and are now hoping to tackle similar projects across the town.