SHE may be just 17 days old, but Jessica Emily Ford performed her first public engagement yesterday when she helped open a community garden.

Jessica and parents Mark Ford and Sonya Stamp were guests at the unveiling of the garden as part of the Byker Centre project in Newcastle.

It has been created on a shelf of land overlooking the Tyne at Headlam Street on the fringe of the Byker Wall in Newcastle.

The site enjoys sweeping views over the river and the city and the garden includes an amphitheatre feature to make the most of the vistas. The Byker Centre project will combine the garden with the refurbishment of the site’s empty Victorian listed St Michael’s Church to provide a range of services, activities and facilities.

Norcare, the Newcastle-based housing support charity which helps vulnerable people, is part of the church and community partnership behind the Byker Centre venture.

The charity wanted to find a younger-older combination to help in the opening ceremony and Jessica, from the Byker Wall estate, was chosen.

The other half of the equation was Margaret Temple, 81, who was baptised, confirmed and married in St Michael’s Church.

Great grandmother Mrs Temple, who was married in 1952 and now lives in Welbeck Green in Walker in Newcastle, said: “It is such a beautiful church and it is a great idea to re-open it. The garden is also lovely and the community needs something like that.”

Mark Ford, who is treasurer of the Byker Village Tenants and Residents Association, said: “The site has beautiful views across the city and the garden and church project will give the community a lift and bring people together.”