A community spirit needs to be grown and nurtured – just like a garden. King Charles has a vision of the garden of the United Kingdom that is organic, creates jobs for local people and is thus restitutative: like the churches who are realising that sharing and distributing some (100 million pounds) of history’s colonial assets can only do good, we’re at a moment where the door’s open, the light’s shining through the window, the media, education, health and social services, transport, utilities are crying out for transformation and it’s the same in social housing.
Tenants want beautiful homes, good jobs in safe, prosperous neighbourhoods that have a distinct and welcoming identity. That’s where TPAS (Tenant Participatory Advisory Services) courses and webinars are like an Open University, an Old Grey Whistle Test of access to the goodness of culture for everyone in the 21st century.
TPAS (founded in 1988) and HACT (Housing Advisory Charitable Trust founded in 1960) shared funding of the webinar Creating Bright and Beautiful Communities on Tuesday 28th Feb 2023.
I attended and it was brilliant. Here’s the link to the recording and below some info.
The idea of creating bright and beautiful green spaces filled with wildflowers, healthy fruit and vegetables makes you smile, makes you dream of sitting with the neighbours and friends talking and enjoying life.
Jenny Osborne Chief Exec of TPAS invited Chris Collins former Blue Peter gardener now Garden Organic head of Organic Horticulture who lives in social housing to show how working together we can create and transform space of all shapes to create stunning, environmentally-friendly community gardens and allotments.
Rachel Phillips Street Rachel coordinates the Shropshire Master Composter programme, https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/news/try-our-chilli-oil-pick-me-uphttps://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/news/try-our-chilli-oil-pick-me-up 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…..
Garden Organic is a national charity based in Shropshire working in communities and organisations across Shropshire, the UK and the wider world who’ve been preparing and creating the ground there for people, businesses and services to grow since 1958.
Landlords can help tenants who want to improve the appearance of their areas but don’t know where to start: this is the beginning of how to engage the wider community to grow, projects, services and sustainable jobs for local people.
Fleur Joyce and Casper Macindoe from Street Allotment Project
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. You can hear him here:
Elliot Bastos Director ( who with co Directors Tom and Ben Wilson of OshNosh CIC are doing a lot of work in Oswestry) talks about their work.
What you can do now….as individuals and organisations and how Garden Organic will help you
We can help….Lisa.Holt@tpas.org.uk
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