Conservation group to showcase community garden.
The Conservation Volunteers will be returning to BBC Gardeners’ World Live this year with their Health for Life in the community show garden.
Designed by Owen Morgan of Mosaic Design, the garden is a celebration of community gardening and the Health for Life in the community programme, funded by the Mondelēz International Foundation.
TCV work across the UK to create healthier and happier communities for everyone and, with this in mind, Owen has designed a pragmatic growing space illustrating the wide range of activity that community growing spaces can accommodate. The aim is to visitors plenty of accessible ideas to take home. The show garden reflects the three main elements of the Health for Life programme: food growing, healthy eating and physical exercise.
Building the show garden has involved a professional team, as well as volunteers from the Health for Life’s community growing spaces in Birmingham. During the show, there will be a range of fun activities taking place in the garden for visitors to enjoy. These range from children’s healthy eating activities, seed mat painting (that the children can then take home and plant), poetry and live performances.
A recent King’s Fund report Gardens and Health (May 2016), evidenced the health benefits of gardening activities and the show garden aims to encourage people to join in and feel good.
Funded by the Mondelēz International Foundation and delivered by TCV, the Health for Life in the community programme has gone from strength to strength since it started in 2012. Having created 15 community food growing spaces across south Birmingham involving over 3,000 volunteers so far, the programme provides wide ranging opportunities for local residents to get involved in growing food whilst getting active and healthy.
Chris Blythe, Operations Leader for Birmingham & West Midlands at TCV, said: “We’re delighted with our show garden and how well it’s turned out. It’s the result of hard work from an expert team with enthusiastic support from volunteers. It really embodies our Health for Life programme and the link between community food growing and healthier and happier communities for everyone.
“We want to thank our partners Mondelēz for their ongoing support of the Health for Life programme, through which we have been able to have a huge impact on communities across Birmingham.”
Kelly Farrell, community affairs manager at Mondelēz International, added: “The garden is a great example of what can be achieved when communities come together to develop an outdoor space. As well as growing fresh food, there are other aspects which contribute to a healthier way of life, benefitting all age groups, through being active and joining in. The Mondelēz International Foundation is proud to fund such a successful programme that continues to make a positive difference to the community.”
