Wick Village
The site was visited in January 2023, where residents Michael, Teresa, Julia and Neil were very keen and determined to create a new community food-growing garden which would be accessible to the community, but required physical help and support to encouraging and engage the residents.
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In 2022, they had embarked on clearing the space from rubbish and unwanted construction materials. A community consultation day was held in February for residents to have an opportunity to talk and share their views and contribute their thoughts to the garden design and future use. Greening Communities, together with Hackney Council supported the rubbish clearance of the garden in March 2023. Plans were made to create new brick planters for the site, and for the charity to source a construction company to undertake the work.
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Residents were advised to start growing in May 2023 while awaiting the building of planters which they did very successfully.
In April, a surveyor from Wates Construction came to view the site, however declined the build. In October, a tree seat building session was organised to engage more residents. It was organised and coordinated by Greening Communities with the approval of the council and delivered by Woodshop of Recycled Delights, a Hackney based community interest company which specialises in reclaiming wood from construction companies that is destined for landfill, and using it in community woodwork sessions/builds.
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Garden design plans were revised, and after two resident consultations, five wooden planters were installed in the garden in November 2023. A gardening session to put the remaining soil into planters and lay wood chip onto paths was held in December.
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In January 2024, the 'Introduction to Growing in Raised Beds' workshop was conducted with the residents. The planters were partly filled with funding from employees at DoubleTree by Hilton London ExCeL who attended a community volunteering day facilitated by Greening Communities.