Perfect weather arrived in East London just in time for our Walled Garden Lab in Bedfords Park, near Romford. Working with the Havering Borough Council and Friends of Bedford Park, Clear Village assembled a keen group of volunteers, known as the Garden Angels to kickstart a community food growing project in an abandoned walled kitchen garden. The garden itself had been in active use until the early nineties, but had fallen into dereliction and decay.
After a lot of dreaming and design thinking, meetings and micro-diplomatic efforts, Founder Thomas Ermacora managed to get the permission to start work in Bedfords Walled Kitchen Garden and invite people from all over the world to contribute with special thanks to musician Imogen Heap who called on her fan base to help out.
The aim of the Walled Garden Lab was to give the historic walled kitchen garden a new lease of life – unlocking its potential as a hub for the local community, growing organic food and giving people access to a healthy and active lifestyle. We trusted that through participatory design and community engagement, fractured segments of the community would come together to improve the quality of life in the village.
So what exactly did the ‘Garden Angels’ do, and what is participatory design?
The Garden Angels were a diverse group of volunteers made up of locals from the village, members of Friends of Bedfords Park, representatives from the local council, and friends of Clear Village from far off countries such as Slovakia, the United States, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland and Cyprus. Some, like Edmund Colville of West Lexham specialised in community design and permaculture while others had little experience but great passion for it. They generously volunteered their time to work in the garden and begin the process of bringing it back to life.
The work started with the team rolling up their sleeves and setting about weeding, raking and tiling the soil to make it perfect for replanting. The workers revealed some traditional Essex apple trees that were planted earlier this year by the Friends of Bedfords Park, which will be fruitful for the community in the coming years. They also harvested some potatoes that had been planted a few months ago. Another bed was then cleared for winter vegetables donated by the Capital Growth Program. Cold winters and hungry pigeons make a lettuce’s life tough work and so the next step was building frost and bird protection for Capital Growth’s donations.
This is where the participatory design kicked in. Using some basic building blocks (bamboo, horticultural fleece, and natural rope) the team got to work, collaboratively prototyping and designing structures that would see the vegetables through the winter. The whole team was energised by the process of working with people from many varying backgrounds to find a design solution together that met everyone’s needs.
With a brief introduction by Thomas Ermacora and Richard Dann to a co-creation a 7-step-design-approach (as shown on these original bricks from the walls) was used. The design that was selected was as environmentally sensitive as possible. For instance, plant material removed from the walls to avoid weakening them was used as central support for the structure. The gardeners and permaculture specialists in the group then discussed possible ideas for how they might want to plant the vegetables, and the team came to a consensus about the best way forward. A ‘Pavilion’ like structure was ultimately created that will double as a quiet spot for the community to enjoy the garden as well as grow their own food.
Along with the activities in the garden, another feature of this week of events was the filming of Heapsong3 – an artistic venture by British Grammy award winning artist Imogen Heap in collaboration with Thomas Ermacora who is directing the video with illustrations from Sarah Maycock. Imogen and Thomas are using the creative arts to draw attention to this garden and the work that is being done here. Parts of this were filmed in the garden while the Garden Angels were at work. Other events that took place during the week were permaculture workshops, presentations by Thomas about Clear Village’s work in the garden as well as introductions to the garden and its history by members of the local council.
The aim of this week of gardening events was not only to continue the great work begun by the Friends of Bedfords Park, but also to give the walled kitchen garden a better profile and a prospect for attracting attention from the local community. However, there are still a number of other plots on the site to be brought back into use by the community and this is very much just the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the community and this once majestic Victorian kitchen garden. Clear Village and the Friends of Bedfords Park will be carrying on the work started by the Garden Angels with assistance from the local council and others.
All those involved in this project left knowing that they had contributed towards the restoration of a community garden and made several new friends, but were probably most surprised to learn how much a community with the spirit of true collaboration can achieve.
This is a seed of change in the village where the garden is. With time and the garden coming alive, the long term goal is to make it a beacon for transition leading to other projects and possibly even a local neighbourhood plan. This ties in with what Thomas Ermacora likes to call a “manifestation of the Big Society in action”.
