North Stainmore Parish Hall Gardening Club
Stainmore Community Garden.
Category: Other
Since June 2023, North Stainmore Parish Hall has held a gardening club led by a local resident, Mary Wilson. The gardening club was borne out of a plant exchange held at the Parish Hall where plants could be swapped, or purchased for a small donation. The donations from the exchange were collected in Mary’s “Flower Power” piggy bank, an object of great sentimental value to both Mary and the Parish Hall having first belonged to Mary’s children and since becoming the collection pot for Parish Hall events. The money from the donations was used to fund the initial set up of the gardening club. Thanks to further funding, including from King Charles’ Coronation Fund, the club has been able to plant fruit trees and erect a shed and fencing around the garden area.
Since starting, membership of the gardening club has been steadily growing and includes Parish Hall Committee Members as well as local residents from Stainmore and the surrounding area. The club aims to bring together people with an interest in gardening and educate them about to grow plants and produce effectively in the challenging local conditions. At the end of each session, members are also challenged to identify the ingredients in a dish Mary has created using in-season produce to demonstrate to them the potential for growing and using home-grown produce. The club also has its own WhatsApp group where members can make plans for the garden, but also gain advice and share ideas for their own gardens which has helped to inspire further gardening activity in the area.
Where
Stainmore.
What are you most proud of?
We are most proud of how an initial idea for a patch of land and a small amount of money in a piggy bank has developed into an established gardening club with an ever-growing membership and a flourishing garden that provides a happy place for so many people in the community.
How did you get people involved?
The club gained momentum mostly through word of mouth, but also through newsletters, and social media. The garden is visible from the road so this helped to make it a talking point and attract interest, especially once progress started to be made in the garden. Each year, the Parish Hall holds a plant swap and coffee morning which gives visitors the chance to view the garden and this also helps to foster interest and support.
What difference did the project make?
The club has helped to bring the local community together around a shared interest in gardening and looking after the community garden. Not only this, but the gardening club has helped to educate members on growing in the local conditions which has supported members’ gardening efforts in their own gardens. Ultimately, through developing the garden, the gardening club has provided a space that the community can visit and be part of, even if they are not members of the gardening club.
What do you wish you had known at the start?
With starting from just a bare patch of land, it can take a while for progress to be visible and efforts to be realised, particularly as the weather and seasons can also delay plans. However, the club aims to show that gardening is possible even despite the local weather and growing conditions, so this has also been part of the learning process for members.
What do you hope for the future of your project?
The club is now hoping to add raised beds for herbs and vegetables to the garden to extend their ability to grow produce. They also plan to install a path to improve accessibility to the garden. In addition, they hope to create a ‘wildlife corridor’ through planting wildflowers and creating a small pond on the land between the garden and the Hall which will encourage wildlife and local fauna.
The overall ambition for the gardening club is to create a place that is not only enjoyable to look at, but also a learning experience for both members of the club and the wider community, including children, who may visit the garden.
‘Flower Power’ piggy bank.