BEDFORDS PARK WALLED GARDEN PROGRESS REPORT 2016
BEDFORDS PARK WALLED GARDEN PROGRESS REPORT 2016
Authored by
December 2016
CONTENTS 1. A WARM WELCOME TO BEDFORDS PARK WALLED GARDEN 2. PROGRESS IN 2016
4 6
3. ACTIVITIES AND ENGAGEMENT
8
4. IMPACT ON OUR BENEFICIARY GROUPS STORIES FROM THE WALLED GARDEN 6. 2017 AND BEYOND CONTACT
10 12 14 18
1. A WARM WELCOME TO BEDFORDS PARK WALLED GARDEN What was once a proud kitchen garden left forgotten and in disrepair is now a thriving part of the Havering community. The radical transformation of Bedfords Park Walled Garden, from collapsed walls and eroded soil to lush greenery and new greenhouses, would not have been possible without the fantastic support of our partners and funders. We have come a long way since we first hit the ground in 2013. Today, at the start of our third year of the BIG Lottery Reaching Communities Grant, the Walled Garden is a thriving food growing space, producing an abundance of vegetables and fruits each year. In 2016 alone, our volunteers contributed 4173 hours of their time, worth more than £30.000 based on the minimum wage. 19 of our volunteers received the Havering volunteer award certificate for delivering more than 100 volunteer hours at the Walled Garden. Nearly all of the available space in the Walled Garden, which measures the size of a football pitch, is now being used as growing space as we continue to improve the Walled Garden’s infrastructure.
4
The Walled Garden is establishing itself as a valued asset of the Havering community. We have formed partnerships with established local organisations including Havering Mind and Tapestry. We have also developed progressive initiatives such as our Grow>Cook>Eat programme, this year delivered at RJ Mitchell Primary School. Our growing presence in local media has attracted invitations to present before local community groups, and online we’ve grown our network to 340 active Facebook members, 2/3 of which are local to the Walled Garden. Our ambition is to realise the Walled Garden as a centre for the promotion of community health and well-being. In addition to the achievements focused on in this report, the final chapter will set our vision for 2017 and beyond. We would like to express our gratitude for the support of our funders and partners as we work towards this vision.
This year the Walled Garden received a top level “outstanding” in the RHS’s “it’s your neighbourhood” award programme (up from “thriving” in 2015), as well as silver Gilts in the “Walled Garden” and “Community” categories of the RHS London in Bloom awards. “THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE INFRASTRUCTURE IS EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE IN TERMS OF WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN SUCH A SHORT SPACE OF TIME, THE FUNDING THAT HAS BEEN SECURED AND THE OUTCOMES DELIVERED FOR THAT.” “IT IS CLEAR THAT THERE IS A HIGH LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT FROM THE COMMUNITY THAT IS MAKING A MAJOR DIFFERENCE TO THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE THAT ENGAGE WITH THE PROJECT.” -- 2016 JURY REPORT ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY “IT’S YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD” AWARD PROGRAMME
5
2. PROGRESS IN 2016
SUPPORTING OUR VOLUNTEERS
Central to our work at the Walled Garden are our volunteers. They are a diverse mix of ages and backgrounds, most of whom live in Havering. Some have spent more than three years working with us while more recently we’re finding that those who joined in work placements have continued to volunteer long after. We’re finding more ways to support our volunteers which includes a dedicated mess-room on site at the garden where volunteers can keep their belongings, eat and socialise. Our Project Manager has become a Health Champion, has followed training to better understand mental health issues and has taken professional training in level 2 Safeguarding. Our staff are well equipped to respond to volunteer needs; this includes monthly meetings where volunteers are consulted on their views on the development of the garden. For example, one outcome was to break up the growing beds into
“THE WALLED GARDEN IS AN EASY SELL TO PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING IN THE HAVERING COMMUNITY. - SHELLY HEART HAVERING VOLUNTEER CENTRE 6
smaller growing spaces, making them more manageable, for results to be more visible and therefore becoming more enjoyable for our volunteers. To celebrate the achievements of our volunteers, we frequently animate the site with fun events such as our big 3-year anniversary celebration and our yearly Christmas parties. Likely the most popular event is our Harvest Festival in September, a highlight of many a volunteer’s calendar. This kind of public facing experience has been hugely beneficial for team building and engaging our volunteers’ own family members in the community around the Walled Garden.
PARTNERSHIP WORKING
As the only large community garden in Havering, we are an increasingly important resource for VCS organisations across a wellestablished network within the borough. Many of these organisations are represented on our Project Board. This is because the Walled Garden has become a reliable space for its gardening activities that improve the health & well-being of their clients. Here’s how we have excelled at building these partnerships: Firstly, we connected with Havering Mind to deliver a programme for mental health. This included light gardening activities, discussions and learning about healthy eating to help reduce risks of obesity, diabetes and heart
disease as well as providing a social space for those who are isolated. By engaging our volunteers in this partnership we can see their desire to support others facing mental health issues—this is the peer-to-peer method we wish to develop further in the coming seasons. Secondly, we developed a relationship with the Havering Housing Team and Tapestry and together secured funding to deliver a scheme to bring people aged 65 and over from sheltered housing to the Walled Garden. This will see an increasing number of elderly people come to the Walled Garden, thereby
reducing social isolation, increasing physical activity and building community. Thirdly, on a more case-by-case basis, we are connecting with the Richmond Fellowship and Job Centre Plus to bring more of their clients to the Walled Garden. Finally, we continue to recruit new volunteers via the Havering Volunteer Centre and by promoting the work we do at the Walled Garden at local groups such as Elm Park Women’s Group, Collier Row Church Group and Lavers & District Horticulture Society.
4
2 3 1
1
INFRASTRUCTURE AND GROWING
Continued improvements to the physical infrastructure of the Walled Garden are essential to how we grow food, how we deliver programmes to our beneficiaries and how we connect to the wider public.
1 2
New paths that break up the beds and make them more manageable
3
Raised beds for seated gardening, accessible for people in wheelchairs
4
Rain water harvesting and electronic pumping system in the original Victorian coal bunker
7
Mess room for volunteers, including a gardening library
3. ACTIVITIES AND ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES
850
This year we’ve hosted the following programmes:
hours of supervised activity
+ Our volunteer programme offers people of all ages the opportunity to do gardening and DIY activities on Tuesdays and Thursdays. People undertake a range of gardening and DIY activities suitable for their abilities.
420
people engaged in activities
+ Our mental health programme in collaboration with Havering Mind started in September. Participants join for a 12-week programme and are invited to continue as volunteers afterwards. + 4-week work placements in collaboration with SEETEC lasted until April 2016. Following this these placements continued as a 2-week programme in collaboration with Job Centre Plus. + Grow>Cook>Eat programme on healthy eating and gardening was delivered for 5 whole days to each of the pupils from year 3, 4 and 5 at RJ Mitchell Primary School in Havering.
PUBLIC EVENTS, GROUP VISITS AND OUTREACH
Public events are an essential part of our communication strategy and aim at engaging visitors with our beneficiary programmes. In 2016 we organised the following public events: + + + +
850
Open Day - Sunday 12th March Summer Festival - Sunday 12th June Harvest Festival - Saturday 26th September Halloween Party - Friday 30th October
Pupils from Sanders School and participants from the National Citizens Service visited the Walled Garden for a day. Outside the Walled Garden, our staff gave workshops at the Havering Volunteer Centre and as part of the “Fix our City” exhibition at Machines Room. 8
A POEM FROM JENNIFER, WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMME: “Watch learn ‘n’ grow Together our hands create a flow Pulling and cutting as we go ‘oh what a splendid time we had’ It took away those feelings that often made me sad. With a new burst of energy from within I’m finding gardening such a wonderful thing Such joy in my heart I encountered today Brought smiles to my heart, like when we approach the month of May!! Coming home to prepare the soup Filled a new place in my mind No more tangles to un-wind Just pleasant aromas filling the room Eradicating the old doom and gloom Thank you to all at the project for this day Especially Kirsty - beautiful just like the flowers of May!!”
9
3.IMPACT ON OUR
“WE HAVE OUR OWN SMALL SCALE GARDEN, BUT WE WENT TO THE WALLED GARDEN BECAUSE THERE’S A LEARNING ELEMENT TO IT. IT’S NOT JUST DIGGING AND PLANTING, OUR CLIENTS LEARN ABOUT HEALTH AND FOOD WHICH BENEFITS THEIR MENTAL HEALTH IN A DIFFERENT WAY. BEING ABLE TO MEET NEW PEOPLE, THERE’S THE SOCIAL ASPECT FOR OUR CLIENTS AS WELL.”
130 SCHOOL CHILDREN Our Grow>Cook>Eat programme is focused on teaching children about eating more healthily, taking a playful approach that includes classroom activities as well as gardening. We ran an intensive 5-week programme with years 3, 4 and 5 of the RJ Mitchell school. Furthermore, Sanders School came to visit the Walled Garden for a 1-day programme.
90% of children
- SHARON METCALFE HAVERING MIND
say eating fruits and vegetables is important for health, up from 68% before the programme
59% of children say they eat more vegetables after the programme
100% of children shared their knowledge with parents, siblings, friends and/or others
10
BENEFICIARY GROUPS
35 PEOPLE AGED OVER 50 Our goals for people aged over 50 is to increase the amount of physical activity they do, make them feel better and overcome social isolation. People aged over 50 mostly come in the Walled Garden through our volunteering programme on Tuesday and Thursdays. From September onwards we also have engaged people aged over 50 participating in the programme with Havering Mind.
46 PEOPLE THAT ARE
LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED For long-term unemployed people we hope to increase their confidence, their motivation to look for employment or further education and improve their interpersonal skills. About 30% of our volunteer force are unemployed and many of them come to the Walled Garden every Tuesday and Thursday. We also have long-term unemployed people coming in via work placements and the mental health programme with Havering Mind.
3.5 hours are on
50% of participants
50% of visits lead to
44% of participants
80% of visits lead to
93% of people felt more
told us that they feel more confident about themselves
average spent per visit on physical activity
told us that they feel more positive about their interpersonal skills
people meeting someone they didn’t know before
motivated to apply for jobs or pursue further education
people feeling better afterwards
11
4. STORIES FROM THE WALLED GARDEN
STEVE At 60 Steve is one of the older regular volunteers in the garden. Each week he’s walking 15 miles to and from the garden. “You see the crowd out here and you have a good laugh. And if you’re not fit – you soon will be!” Two years ago, Steve joined the garden after going to the Job Centre. He was looking through his options when the Bedfords Park Walled Garden jumped out at him, “I thought, ah ha! I used to be an apprentice here!” Steve remembers working in the garden in the 1960s, back when it supplied the flowers for Havering Council. “All those grand plant displays and arrangements in front of the Town Halls were done here. We did that.” Working in the garden is obviously much different now; he gained a lot of skills while apprenticing all those years ago, but now he’s adding a whole new layer to his experience. “I want to learn. I want to learn about people with different difficulties. I want to learn so I know how to interact and help.”
Steve tries to be a “buddy” in the garden and truly wants to support his friends. “The garden is a safe haven; it’s full of people that everyone knows they can trust.” This commitment has grown into Steve volunteering on Wednesdays when Havering Mind’s clients arrive in the garden. Steve takes a few from the group to help them get started in the garden. He talks to them, listens to what their abilities are, and then assists them with the jobs they want to tackle. Steve is empathetic to the people who need the garden as an outlet. He says he can remember times when he could relate, “I can see where they’re coming from ‘cause I had that a bit before I was told to come up here.” He describes some of his feelings as, “…like I was going ‘round and ‘round in circles.” These days Steve is more fit, spending time outside where he’d much rather be, and exploring new opportunities with different volunteering options. “There’s value in every single thing we do here!”
12
EILEEN Eileen has always believed in keeping busy, “I believe a bit of hard work never killed anybody. Otherwise I’d be sitting at home doing nothing.” And sitting at home is not an option for her. Eileen is 52 years old and unemployed. She started volunteering at the garden more than a year ago through SEETEC. Although her placement finished afer 4 weeks, she has continued to volunteer. She’s in the Walled Garden every Tuesday and most Thursdays too. She takes the bus from her home in Becontree, over 7 miles away, and then walks a mile up the hill to the garden. “Oh I love it. I love walking the hill, I see all the deer and I’m friends with all the dog walkers.”
Since starting in the garden Eileen has seen a great improvement in her weight: “Well, I was size 24 for clothes and now I’m down to size 16.” But it isn’t just her weight that has improved, “I used to always end up really ill. Now there’s no sign anymore, and when the doctor asks what’s changed I say ‘I work in a garden.’ They reckon being outside has helped me be more healthy than I used to be.” Eileen is a jack-of-all-trades and doesn’t shy away from any job in the garden. She loves trying new things and learning a few tricks along the way, “I’ve got a massive big garden [at home.] I’ve learned a lot more since coming up here. And I’m still going strong. And I’m happy.”
CHRIS Chris likes to get his hands dirty. He isn’t afraid of hard work and he’s known in the garden for never complaining – even if he’s shovelling the few tons of manure that has recently been donated.
Prior to his work placement Chris didn’t have much direction to his days – he played X-Box and his guitar. He was looking for work but spent a lot of time at home and felt down.
Chris is 22 and he’s lived in Harold Hill most of his life. He is quiet, best described as a “listener,” and a gentle presence amongst the group of cheery and animated volunteers.
“Before I started coming here I was feeling really depressed and low. Coming up here has made me feel happier.”
He originally came to the garden on a 2-week placement from the Job Centre Plus in September 2016, with no previous garden or landscaping experience. Since then he volunteers 2 to 3 times a week.
13
Keeping busy has been an important factor in Chris’s mental health. He still isn’t certain what he wants to do next but he’s developing skills and relationships that will be key in any up-andcoming steps.
4. 2017 AND BEYOND OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Our vision for the future is to become a driving force for positive change in the Havering area. This means welcoming more community members to the Walled Garden and bringing the benefits of the Walled Garden to other locations in Havering. By doing this we can make an even greater impact on community health and well-being. In phase 1 when we started working in the Walled Garden in 2013, it was about ensuring that food growing could take place again; we made the walls safe from collapse, reinstated the growing beds and restored the historical aspects of the garden. Now, in phase 2, it is crucial that we strengthen our volunteer programme, provide more work placements and develop further our popular Grow>Cook>Eat initiative. Step by step we’re establishing our position in the Havering community and VCS sector. We’ve built partnerships with local organisations who rely on the Walled Garden for their client’s needs, but there are many more who haven’t benefited yet. As we move from phase 2 to phase 3, we want to increase our impact by focusing on mental health through gardening and healthy eating. We will continue to improve our programmes and adapt them for a range of new clients in Havering, thereby achieving the kind of widescale social benefits that we set out to deliver when we first put spade to soil.
14
15
16
2017: WHAT STEPS WILL WE TAKE? In 2017, our focus will be two-fold: 1) Broaden and deepen the impact for beneficiary groups of the BIG Lottery Grant: + deliver our Grow>Cook>Eat programme to 3 to 5 schools in the Havering area and continue the programme’s development to other groups + delivering a programme for elderly people together with Tapestry and Havering Housing Team + continue to develop our relationship with Job Centre Plus to provide more work placements + provide training for our volunteers to participate in our programmes—specifically training in recognising and working with people with mental health issues
2) Develop new programmes around mental health for specific groups, based on local demand. The aim is to deliver these programmes in or outside the Walled Garden. One important route for that is through the new local VCS consortium Ensemble, set up specifically to compete in public sector tenders and pursue other fundraising opportunities. In addition to this we will aim to work more closely with key partners: + approach potential new partners that work with people with mental health issues, such as the YMCA, Alzheimer Society and the Sycamore Trust. + work together with existing and new partners to develop programmes and identify fundraising opportunities + promote our work around mental health to potential clients including Havering CCG, local care organisations and schools.
+ continue to develop the physical infrastructure of the Walled Garden, improve paths for better accessibility and build more raised growing beds for people with physical impairments + continue with our public events programme, volunteer recruitment through Havering Volunteer Centre and talks and presentations for local organisations.
17
CONTACT Bedfords Park Walled Garden Broxhill Rd, Havering Atte Bower RM4 1QH
Walled Garden team Kirsty McArdle Project Manager kirsty@clear-village.org Paul King Community Manager paul.king@clear-village.org Bedfords Park Walled Garden is a project managed by:
CLEAR VILLAGE
Charitable Trust, Registered Charity #1142779 Old Admin Office, Block A Vauxhall Peabody Estate, Vauxhaul Bridge Road London SW1 V1TA Project Support Thomas Ermacora Creative & Strategic Director, Founder thomas@clear-village.org Frank van Hasselt Chief Executive frank@clear-village.org Robin Houterman Project Impact Manager robin@clear-village.org Sarah Mann Communications Manager sarah@clear-village.org Mohan Rajaratnam Finance & Administration Manager mohan@clear-village.org PROJECT PARTNERS
IN 2016 THE WALLED GARDEN WAS FUNDED BY:
PREVIOUS FUNDERS:
ORGANISATIONS REPRESENTED ON THE WALLED GARDEN PROJECT BOARD: Havering Council, Essex Wildlife Trust, BME Forum, Richmond Fellowship, Friends of Bedfords Park, Havering Association for People with Disabilities, Over 50’s Forum, St Ursula’s Infant school, HaB Conservation Society Copyright: CLEAR VILLAGE 2016 Credits: Leticia Fochesatto (illustration page 7)
IMAGE
19