Creating Bright and Beautiful Communities - Free online event
A community spirit needs to be grown and nurtured – just like a garden.
So, what better way to bring people together than by creating bright and beautiful green spaces filled with wildflowers, healthy fruit and vegetables, and places to sit and chat?
Tpas and HACT are inviting tenants and housing staff to this practical workshop exploring how they can work together to create stunning, environmentally-friendly community gardens and allotments.
The session will explore the simple steps tenants can take to transform patches of land of all shapes and sizes around their homes – boosting community pride, reducing social isolation, supporting local wildlife, and improving people’s mental health in the process.
We’ll also look at the role of landlords in empowering those who want to improve the appearance of their areas but often don’t know where to start, and how to engage the wider community in growing projects.
The workshop will be led by Garden Organic, a national charity that helps people and communities grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers in an environmentally friendly way.
Their expert gardeners have bags of experience in supporting groups of neighbours to plan and develop their own thriving community gardens and green spaces.
You’ll hear from former Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins, a regular on TV gardening shows, who will share his experience of engaging his local community in planting projects in the outdoor spaces near his housing association property.
Housing providers are urged to invite their tenants to participate in the event, so please feel free to promote the session in your newsletters, social media and websites.
Agenda
Time |
Content |
12.30pm |
Welcome and introductions |
12.35pm |
A tenant with a Passion Chris is Garden Organic’s Head of Organic Horticulture and has a background in estate management/amenity horticulture, working in places such as the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Kew Gardens and Westminster Abbey. He was also the Blue Peter Gardener for many years. Chris has joint ownership of a flat in a housing association property and will share his experience of engaging his local community in the outdoor spaces and some of the challenges he faces. |
12.55pm
|
Building a volunteer network and engaging communities
Hear from staff and volunteers who work on Garden Organic projects in various locations around the UK. An essential component of the projects is the volunteers, who work with Garden Organic to share organic growing and composting messages with their own community. Rachel Phillips- Street , Project coordinator (Shropshire) will talk about how we support our volunteers’ work to make a difference in their own community. Rachel coordinates the Shropshire Master Composter programme, supporting volunteers to promote home composting at events, in schools and in the community. She also supports the Cumbrian team, helping develop the wider volunteer network. Her top organic gardening tip is to go wild. See weeds as wildflowers, slugs as a hedgehog's supper, and aphids as a ladybird's lunch!
|
1.05pm
|
Volunteers Fleur Joyce and Casper Macindoe from Street Allotment Project |
1.25pm |
Anton Rosenfeld delivered the Sowing New Seeds project. Getting gardeners, allotment holders, schools, and community groups in the Midlands to grow crops that are not traditionally grown in the UK. This provided a unique opportunity for diverse communities to engage and connect over growing. Anton has delivered a range of community growing projects in Coventry, Walsall and Birmingham, to name a few. |
1.35pm |
Volunteer Elliot Bastos – talks about the work he has done in Oswestry at OsNosh CIC |
1.45pm |
Panel Discussion & Q&A
|
1.55pm |
What you can do now….as individuals and organisations – how Garden Organic can help…. |
2.00pm |
Thanks and close |
How do I join the event?
We will be delivering this webinar on Zoom. In advance of the session, you will be sent a unique URL to join the event before it begins.
If you have any questions about the session, please contact Lisa Holt - email lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk
Date
Tue 28th Feb 2023, 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Event URL:
Tickets
Creating bright and beautiful communities | ||
---|---|---|
Membership | Staff | Tenant |
Members | FREE | FREE |
Non-Members | FREE | FREE |
Event Contact
Name: Lisa Holt
Email: lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk
Phone: 0161 868 3500
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