Join us in the garden for a FREE fun filled eco friendly day!
There will be stalls from local groups championing sustainability and environmental issues, who will be on hand to help you make changes to your home to not only make it energy efficient but also to save money and the planet at the same time!
We have 2 performances from Pif-Paf Theatre who will be bringing their show of “Bee Cart” at 1pm and 3pm brought to you by Black Country Touring
There will also be – composting workshops, environmental storytelling, face painting, games, workshops and eco arts and crafts!
We will also be giving everyone the opportunity to make your own pledge to the planet. Where you can pledge to make changes to your everyday life for yourself, your family, the local community and the planet.
Conserve Energy! Be Water Wise! Bee Friendly! (support local wildlife!) Breath Clean! Live Long! REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
with thanks to West Midlands Combined Authority’s Environment Fund, The National Lottery Community Fund and West Midlands Combined Authority Inclusive Communities Fund and Black Country Touring
From July until November, we have a monthly poetry workshop taking place in the garden, have a look at the workshops below. You can sign up to one or two or all 6!
To book your space please contact poetsprattlerspandemonialists@gmail.com
Where possible workshops will take place outside, so do dress for the weather.
Workshop 1 – Sunday 28th July 2024 – 2.00pm til 4.30pm
I Say Tomato – Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists present a poetry writing and fruit eating workshop!
Come along and join Emma P and Gracey B for this fun and friendly garden-based event. Hear some fruity rhymes, write some veggie verse. Discuss the language of food. Is it scallion, escallion, or spring onion? Zucchini or courgette? Ladies fingers or okra? Use your foody memories and sensory experiences to create poems with a bit of zest. Open to all – new writers, keen writers, established writers and listeners all welcome.
Workshop 2 – Sunday 11th August 2024 – 2.00pm til 4.30pm
How Does Your Garden Grow? – Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists present a sensory and poetic exploration of the garden.
Steve Pottinger and Emma Purshouse will be inviting you to use all five senses to explore Caldmore Community Garden. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and scents of the landscape. Create poetry with layers and texture. Have a go at some more unusual poetry forms. Open to all – new writers, keen writers, established writers and listeners all welcome.
Workshop 3 – Sunday 1st September 2024 – 2.00pm til 4.30pm
Tea, Herbs, and Spices – unlock your creativity with aromatic inspiration.
Join Kuli Kohli (current Poet Laureate for the City of Wolverhampton, and leader of the city’s Punjabi Women’s Writers Group) for a supportive afternoon of poetry writing. Explore the world of tea, dive into the healing properties of herbs, infuse your poetry with the warmth of cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Share your creations over a steaming cup of masala chai. Open to all – new writers, keen writers, established writers, spice lovers, herb aficionados, and listeners all welcome.
Workshop 4 – Sunday 29th September 2024 – 2.00pm til 4.30pm
From Page to Stage – Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists present Poetry Performing Workshop
Join Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists for another fun, friendly event. Would you like to get more confident in speaking to an audience? Would you like to use a microphone effectively? Come along and explore the skills required to read/perform/share your poems aloud. As part of this workshop we’ll be inviting people to prepare a set of poems ready to take part in the Caldmore Community Garden Open Mic session on Sunday 6th October. Open to all.
Caldmore Speaks Out – a Poetry Open Mic – Sunday 6th October – 2.00pm
Join Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists as they host Caldmore Speaks Out, an afternoon of poetry and spoken word to celebrate National Poetry Day. Come along and bring your family friendly poems to share with our audience. These might be poems you’ve written yourself, or poetry you love that’s been written by other people. Or alternatively just turn up to listen and enjoy an afternoon of entertainment in our glorious garden environment. All welcome. Do dress for the weather.
To book an open mic spot, or for more information then email poetsprattlerspandemonialists@gmail.com. This will be an outside performance, so do dress for the weather.
Workshop 5 – Sunday 20th October 2024 – 2.00pm til 4.30pm
Share and Share Alike – Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists present a seed swap, poetry swap activity
Join Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists for an afternoon of sharing, both of seeds and poetry. We’ll be creating origami envelopes to fill with seeds and short form poetic messages to delight garden lovers everywhere. Bring along any spare seeds (seeds will be provided if you haven’t got any) and your desire to create. Take away new seeds and new poems for yourself or to give to a garden-loving friend. Open to all – new writers, keen writers, established writers and listeners all welcome.
Workshop 6 – Sunday 17th November 2024 – 2.00pm til 4.30pm
A Little Bird Told Us – Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists present an anthropomorphic afternoon!
What would the birds, bees, animals and flowers say if they could speak? A fun and friendly workshop to get you experimenting with language. Join us if you’d like to be more bee, chirrup like a chaffinch, explore the wisdom of owls, or the moaning of the marigolds. We’ll be leading a series of writing and ‘translating’ activities designed to get you creating poetry in the voices of the other. Open to all – new writers, keen writers, established writers and listeners all welcome.
Ongoing – over the course of their residency Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists will be collecting together people’s reactions and responses to being in the garden environment, so that they can make a Caldmore Community Garden Community Poem!
The Sleeping Seeds – A playful music theatre show for families. Two musical gardeners go on an adventure to raise a seedling and raise a racket. Rake & Roll!!
The Sleeping Seeds are a pair of musical gardeners who have a very special seed asleep in their seed bed. Join them as they nurture and encourage this little seed to mature and take its place in the world. Expect catchy songs, unusual instruments and fun joining in!
This is a relaxed performance for all ages and includes integrated British Sign Language.
The performance will be outdoors and will go ahead whatever the weather, so please come prepared (raincoats & wellies or sun hat & suncream!).
We will have some rain cover if needed. In the event of extreme weather please check social media for notifications about the performance.
Sunday 25th August 2024
The garden will open from 1pm and the performance will start at 2pm
Tickets are FREE or ‘pay what you can’ via Black Country Touring
Join us at Caldmore Community Garden on Saturday 20th July for our Summer Garden Party!
We will be joined by HandMade Theatre who will be performing their puppet show Tell Me A Story in the garden at 1pm and 3pm. Look out for them walking about the garden during the day!
‘Everyone has a story to tell and a memory to share. Unlock yours in this family adventure down memory lane, experience the stories of people, places and objects we hold dear.’ Tell Me A Story is a show lovingly created by HandMade Theatre. The piece explores childhood memories and draws inspiration from our creative work in care homes for those with dementia. This piece aims to bring generations together to share their stories, exploring experiences of childhood and unlocking the similarities and differences we all share. A fun family show featuring HandMade Theatre’s signature mix of dynamic storytelling, live music, original songs, beautiful puppets and colourful characters.
Suitable for children aged 2-10 and their families. We particularly encourage parents and Grandparents to join their children in a shared experience together.
Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists will be adding a poetry vibe to the day. Pop by to see Gracey Bee at her Poet Tree, and she’ll help you to create rhyming poetry to hang amongst its branches.
Or why not ask for a poem of your own to take away? Emma Purshouse and Steve Pottinger will be writing Poetry on Demand. You could request a poem for yourself or a loved one. Or perhaps ask for a poem written about your favourite aspect of nature.
Gracey, Emma, and Steve will also be happy to talk to you about what to expect from the poetry workshops that Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists will be running over the next few months at Caldmore Community Garden.
To celebrate the beginning of the summer holidays there will be a bouncy castle, face painter, arts and crafts, family games to play and a Nature Treasure Hunt to solve with prizes to win.
The Community Cafe will be open so pop in and grab yourself a slice of tasty cake!
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday for lots of fun in the garden!
Thank you to Black Country Touring for their support
Thank you to the Inclusive Communities Fund award, with this fund we will be able to empower our community, address real issues and create a lasting legacy.
Thanks to the Heart of England Community Foundation, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), United by Legacy, UKGOV and the Commonwealth Games organisers for this incredible opportunity
Caldmore Community Garden is a community green space in Caldmore, South Walsall. We are a social venue committed to bringing diverse communities together through creativity, play, working together, and care of natural environment.
One of our big challenges as a predominately outdoors space is the lack of shelter in case of bad weather both during our events and the delivery of our educational programme for different community groups.
With funding from the Nature Hubs Fund, we are looking to build two permanent wooden structures in the Garden. An important part of this project is to involve the local community in the creation and design through to the construction. We have a range of groups that meet in our Garden from school children, play scheme, Women’s Tuesdays and Men’s Shed – they could all be involved in the design and parts of the making process, but there is no expectation to involve all of them.
We are inviting proposals for the commission of 2 new permanent wooden structures in the Garden, along with proposals for the ways to involve the local community, providing local people with an opportunity to gain new skills and get involved in changing the garden for the better.
Join us for a Community Fun Day for dads and their kids – come and join us for an afternoon of circus, creativity, and a campfire!
– Thingamabob by Matt Pang – performances at 12:30 and 2pm With an internationally renowned blend of circus, invention and humour, Matt Pang brings to life a giant ball slinging, self exploding piece of handcrafted gadgetry, inspired by the famous Rube Goldberg machines and Heath Robinson contraptions.
– Arts and crafts – make a Father’s Day card!
– Home-made cake and campfire – toast some bread and marshmallows over the fire!
It’s a Pay as You Feel event – please donate to the Garden to support our future events and activities. There will be donation buckets and a possibility of paying by card, too – you can also visit our Local Giving page https://localgiving.org/charity/caldmorevillagefestival/project/CCG/.
Organised with support from Black Country Touring, West Midlands Combined Authority’s Inclusive Communities fund and the National Lottery Community Fund.
– 12.30pm and 3pm – Easter Egg Hunt for children aged 1-4 – have a go at finding chocolate eggs at the Garden! Little ones must be accompanied by a grown-up, no older siblings allowed in the tots area. Please don’t be late!
– 1-3pm – Easter Egg Trail for older children – complete an Easter Egg trail, solve the clues and claim your chocolate egg! No need to come at a specific hour, your child can do it at any time during the event.
There will be lots of other activities, including:
Easter arts and crafts Children’s entertainment with Happy Child Tombola Face-painting Cake and drinks at our Community Cafe
It’s a Pay as You Feel event – we are a charity and need your support putting events like this for the benefit of the local community. Put some spare cash into a box or pay by card to help us bring you more activities in the future.
On Saturday 4th November at 4pm we will be making lanterns and musical instruments to carry in our lantern procession, and at 6pm Ash Mandrake will enchant us with a live performance full of music and stories. We will finish the day with a campfire, so bring your own marshmallows and things to toast over the fire.
On Sunday 5th November we will gather at 5:45pm for our lantern procession to light up the streets of Caldmore – the procession leaves the Garden at 6pm and on coming back there will be a performance by LED drummers and Autin Dance Theatre with their amazing Out of the Deep Blue! All that in a beautifully lit up Garden open for everybody to explore.
The event is free thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, Children in Need, whg and Black Country Touring.
Easter arts and crafts
Caldmore Community Garden 