Football Club create nautical sensory garden

In May 2021, owner of Larne Football Club, Kenny Bruce, and his friend Harry Hill helped fund a Splash Project in Dixon Park, Larne for the local community.

As a first project with a professional football team, the Splash team were eager to meet Kenny and the Larne FC community and to help deliver the public sensory garden in Dixon Park, Larne.

The Splash Projects team were inspired by all of the academy players and Larne FC supporters that came together throughout the week and volunteered their time (while battling the pouring rain and strong winds) to construct the Larne Boat Garden, a public sensory garden that was designed and themed around a boat, to connect with the town’s port and nautical spirit.

From day one, the Splash Projects team saw that Larne FC was such an engrained part of the town and were honoured to have helped design and facilitate this space for the local community with the backing of Kenny Bruce and friends.

When asked about the community involvement in the project, Sam Harradine (Programme Manager at Splash Projects) said “It has been fantastic to see the community being involved this week in the project, from the volunteers to the Larne FC supporters to all of the academy players who helped dig, construct and finish the project in the rain and mud”. The handover ceremony even saw some of the first team attend to open the space.

In addition to the wet weather, this entire project was delivered during a nail-biting week of crucial games in the Irish Cup for Larne. Safe to say… the entire Splash team went back to England being devoted Larne FC supporters.