Hundreds of families and visitors attended the Botanical Gardens? Family Day and celebrated Government?s decision not to build a hospital in the centre of the Island?s most famous national park.

With activities spread across the Gardens, it was difficult to know for sure how many people showed up for the event that had been planned weeks ago as a show of support for the Save the Gardens campaign only to be overtaken by events ten days ago when new Health Minister Nelson Bascome announced the Gardens would not be built upon.

Although the Gardens have been saved this time, there is still work to be done to ensure they remain out of the reach of future development.

That was the warning of environmentalist Stuart Hayward, who praised those who took part in the people protest of the past months to keep the Botanical Gardens at the forefront of an Island-wide debate.

New laws are needed to provide an ultimate safeguard for the Botanical Gardens, he said.

Addressing the main gathering in the Gardens, Mr. Hayward said: ?What will keep them from destroying these Gardens?

?The same thing that has made these Gardens safe today ? the attention and action of ordinary people like you. It is ordinary people like you that have saved the Gardens today. We must now take our campaign further to save park lands.?

The laughter of children playing rippled across the acres of manicured plants and trees as youngsters delighted in having their faces painted to resemble cats and butterflies, or marvelled at giant liquid bubbles set adrift by an children?s entertainer.

Many of those same youngsters left touching notes and pictures around a flower bed in front of Camden House putting into words why they love the Gardens. One read simply ?Why I love the Gardens... roses? others wrote about the colours of the flowers, the Gardens honouring Bermuda?s heritage, or the fun of feeding the ducks.

A handwritten message succinctly stated: ?I think the hospital should not be in the Gardens. It is not good for the trees?, while another youngster wrote ?I like the Botanical Gardens because it has a butterfly garden and it has a rainforest?.

An appearance by Bermuda?s international singer-songwriter Heather Nova on a stage in front of Camden House provided a focal point with her five-song set, which included a rendition of her self-penned ?Motherland?, her most popular song on the Apple iTunes Internet site.

Ms Nova and violin player Taylor Rankin were among a string of musicians to grace the stage, with Joy Barnum and Thaao Dill, Olybhosh, Val Wallace and Ras Giorgis amongst the others.

As a finale, all the performers returned to sing Bob Marley?s classic ?Three Little Birds?.

German tourist Karin Peters, from Hamburg, and her friend Erika Greenberg from Merrick, New York, came across the family day by chance and, as they enjoyed home-made goodies at the National Trust stall, expressed their shock on hearing the Gardens were once in line to be built upon.

Ms Peters said: ?The Gardens are so nice and I love the butterfly garden. It is important that you have days like this so everybody knows about the Gardens.?

And Ms Greenberg added: ?If we are allowed to vote we will help to save the Gardens.?

Resident Rosemary Wade said: ?The Gardens are beautiful. After all these years why destroy them? I came here as a kid and it?s a safe place for small children to come and play.?

Newly arrived Smith?s parish residents Pat and Katy Gonnelli were paying their first visit to the Gardens and said they wanted the Gardens to stay the way they are.

Senator Walwyn Hughes gave the audience a historical snapshot of how the Botanical Gardens had come into being in 1898 and the changes that had been made over the years.

Before retiring and then joining the upper house, Sen. Hughes was a senior civil servant in the old Agriculture & Fisheries Department and paid tribute to those who had made a difference in saving the Gardens by joining the campaign. ?Public protest has proved itself in this case and I glory in that,? he said.

Donna Tiffin, a member of the Save the Gardens group, commented: ?I?ve spoken to a lot of visitors from overseas who are here and have been taking a tour of the Gardens and said they could not imagine why Bermuda would want to build on this park.?

Reflecting on the events of the day, Mr. Hayward told : ?The thing I have noticed most is how many young kids there are here and that?s significant because it?s the kids, when they grow up, who will most need this space. It is satisfying to see so many kids enjoying themselves.

?The diversity of events and diversity of people here is also satisfying. I was there when they were blowing the huge bubbles with the children, and there has been Tai Chi and Yoga classes and tours of the gardens. David Wingate did a bird tour.

?People have been buying bluebird boxes. It has not been high pressured and I think everyone here really appreciates every aspect of the Gardens. There is enough space for everyone and the weather has been just perfect.?

When asked whether the Save the Gardens campaign has now ended, or if there is a new objective, he replied: ?We are now in standby mode. The decision (to build on the Gardens) was changed and it can be changed again.

?Now that people have been here and experienced this it would be extremely difficult for any decision to be made to take this space and destroy it.?

Mr. Hayward said the value and worth of the Gardens as an amenity for the Island?s population would become greater if, as has been forecast, the Island becomes more crowded and populated in the future.

The groups and individuals who came together to save the Gardens are to hold a debriefing session next week to review what they have accomplished and what they feel still needs to be accomplished.

Mr. Hayward thanked the ECO group, Bermuda Garden Club and Bermuda Rose Society, the Audubon Society, National Trust, International Dog Event Association and SPCA, Masterworks, KBB, Walking Club of Bermuda, Bermuda Botanical Society, the Premier, Cabinet Office and Government for allowing the use of Camden House and the grounds and Health Minister Nelson Bascome for ?pledging that the Botanical Gardens would not be built upon?.