‘Growing Together’ is an environmental intergenerational initiative in Carrickfergus. The aim is to bring different generations together, challenge negative stereotypes and behaviour and improve community relations.
I held my first Growing Together event in June at a Sheltered Accomodation for the Elderly. The residents have a keen interest in growing and I had been working with Cathy, the supervisor there, to improve the Greenhouse for them – the greenhouse was really rundown and overgrown so we cleared it out so the residents could start again.
Cathy was able to secure a grant to further improve the site and we had the idea for a Growing Together event. We invited the Growing Club from the local Primary school to a Planting Day where everyone planted hanging baskets and big pots to brighten the area. Everyone had a chance to show their expertise and enthusiasm and the residents got to show off their improved greenhouse.
The 9th – 13th June 2014 was National School Grounds Week. This is a ‘Learning through Landscapes’ initiative, the aim of which is to get children outside having fun and learning. http://www.ltl.org.uk/
I thought it was really important to engage with this initiative as I do a lot of work in local schools and because school grounds have been in the news recently – campaigns for the government to introduce a minimum amount of outdoor space legally required in schools. For some children, school grounds may be the only open space they have access to and numerous studies have linked children’s health, well-being, learning and development to access to outdoor space.
I arranged two outdoor fun days at a local school and my colleage Lisa helped me out. We had P1-P7 in sessions on the first day and the nursery class on the second day. We played interactive games like nature bingo, scavenger hunts and nature transformers with the older kids. With the nursery we created beautiful art in the form of bees and flowers and finished with a few games to get them running about. Really fun day and hopefully educational too.
A quick update on the Whitehead community garden I have been working on. The group are doing AMAZING and are doing pretty much everything themselves now. There is a committed group now working together and the veg is looking great. They have even sourced a boat and are growing veg in that too!
I’m starting my next community garden project next week…hopefully it will be as successful 🙂