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To create an accessible community garden - for all for all to enjoy, incorporating the new SongBird garden, exhibiting at RHS Chelsea 2025.
by Lucy Carew in Hull, England, United Kingdom
Neighbourhood Network is a small Hull charity that takes a multifaceted approach to improving community safety and well-being. The team strive to inspire people to work together towards a shared vision and through partnerships and collaborations, it makes a positive difference to the communities it serves.
True to the charity’s mission ‘to work with and support you to make your communities safer and healthier’, the team are deeply committed to empowering residents and encouraging them to play an active role in enhancing their own neighbourhoods and self well-being though a range of activities and projects.
In spring 2023 the Neighbourhood Network team took on its most challenging project to date, with the management of a previously closed community centre. Over the last 19 months the community have come back in abundance and enjoyed a varied range of activities and services inside the building. However, its now time to focus on the outside as the community have told us they want an outside space to 'relax', 'grow', 'perform' and 'learn' in.
The vision is that the existing concrete space can be transformed into a vibrant, welcoming community space - accessible for all. The team have plans to widen the access door and build a ramp into the garden leading to a space large enough to host activities such as yoga and meditation. The vision is to include raised beds and fruit bushes for community growing and foraging, encouraging new users and beneficiaries of the garden.
To complement the redevelopment of larger garden space, the Neighbourhood Network is excitedly due to benefit from the relocation of a 2025 RHS Chelsea Garden - The Songbird Survival garden. This section of the garden will come directly from the Cheslsea show and is inspired by the movement and perspective of a bird, foraging for food and water while moving between points of safety and shelter.
This Songbird area will incorporate pathways weaving between layers of planting, mimicking how birds prefer to move through a network of cover. At the centre of the garden will be a Birdhouse Den made from reclaimed materials, including six hand-crafted metalwork motifs of threatened UK songbirds. Bird-friendly planting will provide natural sources of food, nesting material and shelter and a circular pond will provide shallow water for birds to drink and bathe in - SongBird Survival RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden 2025
Why the Aviva Community Fund Climate Action crowdfunder?
The garden area requires a re-working of the current groundworks to enable a safe levelled area with access for all to use and enjoy. The money raised will contribute to transforming the community garden from an empty void, lacking in wildlife and activities into a wildlife haven supporting community activities from planting and Pilates, conservation and crafting.
It’s not just about the physical use of the space though. A community garden gives space for people to connect through nature and learn the effects of climate change to local wildlife. This encourages a sense of responsibility towards our own environments and show how small changes can make a difference. Activities such as ‘creating window boxes’ and ‘easy to grow veggies’ will support this.
The garden will provide a safe nurturing space for birds and other wildlife, which is crucial as climate change can alter their own natural habitats. The planting will support this, helping towards preserving local biodiversity. Flowers, seeds and berries will serve as food sources for the birds and wildlife and it is hoped the garden will become a ‘connecting corridor' helping birds move freely from natural spaces, especially important in urban areas.