Near Neighbours funding for the garden

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We are really happy to announce that we have received Near Neighbours’ funding for our project Grow-Cook-Make (A Difference Together!)!

Starting from February 2015 we will be working hard to bring various faiths and cultures together around growing, cooking, sharing cultural traditions and doing things together.

Caldmore is a wonderfully multicultural place and we want to celebrate with:

  • sharing diverse cooking traditions – COOKING WORKSHOPS
  • growing food from all around the world – GROWING PROJECT
  • enjoying cultural heritage – OUTDOOR CINEMA IN THE GARDEN
  • learning with and from each other – BUILDING A TANDOORI OVEN AND A BARBECUE
  • making things together, for all ages – ARTS AND CRAFTS AND GRAFFITI WORKSHOPS

So stay tuned, get involved and join us in the garden!

Calling all knitters and crocheters!

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tree-poster2Help us to dress a tree in the Community Garden!

Share your talent and donate anything knit or crocheted – can be a granny square, a knit flower or bird, or elaborate piece of needlecraft.

Any items completed by the end of November can be handed to Anna at Caldmore Community Garden, but don’t worry if you run a bit late, we will be continuing the project throughout the year!

If you’re looking for inspiration, visit us on Tuesdays or Thursdays 10-2pm or book a special visit to the garden with Anna (07871813252, caldmoregarden@gmail.com).

In partnership with Inn Stitches.

Wild Fires – October Writing Workshop

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Tuesday 28th October, 11am – 2pm.

The second Writers’ Workshop in Caldmore Community Garden looks towards winter, with its shorter days and colder nights, and the fires we burn to keep our spirits bright. We will explore the theme and the garden in relation to each other, and also bring our own thoughts and experiences of the ways we have found to bring light to dark days.

Once again this is a self-contained workshop, free of charge, and writers in any genre and of any experience are welcome. For those who intend to come to more than one workshop, it can be used to develop and add to a growing body of work. If you wish to book, please email David Calcutt at: davidcalcutt@gmail.com.

We will spend about an hour in the garden, and then walk to the White Lion pub, just five minutes away, where the landlord, Colin, will be waiting to greet us with his hearty and very reasonably priced lunch menu. The workshop will continue during and after lunch. In the case of very bad weather the first hour of the workshop will take place in Caldmore Village Hub, in Caldmore Green, just a few minutes walk from the garden.

Caldmore Community Garden can be found in Carless Street, Caldmore, Walsall, which is off Bath Road, facing Caldmore Primary School and backing onto St. Michael’s Church. The postcode is WS1 3RH. There is some parking outside the garden. For those using public transport, the bus number 4M leaves from Bradford Place bus station and takes you to Caldmore Green. The garden is about 3 minutes walk from there. If you’re coming by train and bus, let me know, and I’ll arrange to meet you at Caldmore Green.

More information: http://naturalhistoriesblog.com

NCS with The Challenge – young people working to improve the garden

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We’ve been a bit quiet the past few days but so much was happening… We went on an exploratory visit to Sandwell Valley to look for inspirations for a sensory garden and wild area, had a meeting drafting the garden’s constitution, our regular garden day on Thursday, wood chip and top soil deliveries, and most importantly – the visit of 60+ young people from NCS with The Challenge.

It’s incredible how much work they did in little more than 4 hours, building paths, filling them with wood chip, weeding, constructing and painting benches… As a result we now have an accessible picnic bench with wheelchair space (painted forest green), new footpath to the wild area, new ramp and footpath to the decking, new raised beds filled with top soil donated by Hollybush, and wonderfully weed-free beds!

Thank you, it would have taken us months!

And what a day it was! Some photos from our Open Day

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What a day!

We’ve had 86 visitors, Good Traditions rocked the garden with its folk repertoire, we still smell of lavender and carry around our lavender sachets, we wrote little pieces about the garden that will inspire our Writer in Residence David Calcutt, the food was gorgeous and even bugs got their hotel!

Thank you all for coming, helping out and supporting the garden. Hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!

Heart of England in Bloom 2014 RHS – It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards

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At the beginning of the year we registered for RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards. Robin and Chris paid us a visit and had a very good look at all the nooks and crannies and here is what they’ve come up with. Lots of room for improvement, but not bad, eh?

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Caldmore Community Garden – Walsall, West Midlands
Assessors: Chris Blythe & Robin Russell
Level 3 Developing

A lovely community garden in the middle of Caldmore, Walsall, lots of green space and food growing. The garden is sandwiched between a school, the road, houses and a social centre and is an oasis in what is otherwise a built up area. In the garden there is a mixture of flowers, fruit and vegetables, there is also a shelter that provides a dry spot when it is wet; this overlooks a lawn area that when we were there the children were enjoying to the full. There is great scope for the gardens, and the group just need pointing in the right direction, something that we as assessors are able to help with. You know what they say from little acorns mighty Oaks grow and this garden could well develop into a great site.

Areas of achievement:
– The garden has made a huge leaps forward in the last 12 months
– The involvement of local businesses in the construction of the seating area should be commended
– Good to see such a focus on providing wildlife habitats within the garden.

Areas for development:
– Some element of training around fruit trees would benefit the group and allow better management of trees
– Next year, a portfolio showing evidence of all the community involvement would be of value.

Writing Workshops

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Writing Workshops – from David Calcutt’s blog Natural Histories

RIPENESS IS ALL

Tuesday 30th September, 11am – 2pm

This is the first Writers Workshop that I’ll be running at Caldmore Community Garden as part of my residency there.

Although each workshop is self contained it is my hope that writers can build up a body of work inspired by the garden and the surrounding community during the course of the year. Each workshop will take a different theme related to the time of year and writers will be encouraged to explore that theme in their writing.
The first workshop’s theme of “Ripeness Is All” will look at growth into maturity, the sweet and the sour, turning points and endings. Some time will be spent in the garden itself, after which we will retire to “The White Lion”, which is just 5 minutes walk away, for lunch, writing, and sharing of work in progress. Colin, the landlord of “The White Lion” is very enthusiastic about hosting us, and puts on some extremely tasty and inexpensive food.
Please note that the workshop is being offered free of charge, but places are limited, so please do book ahead if you’d like to attend. You can book by contacting me by leaving a message here on the blog, or at my email address, davidcalcutt@gmail.com.
Caldmore Community Garden can be found in Carless Street, Caldmore, Walsall, which is off Bath Road, facing Caldmore Primary School and backing onto St. Michael’s Church. The postcode is WS1 3RH. There is some parking outside the garden. For those using public transport, the bus number 4M leaves from Bradford Place bus station and takes you to Caldmore Green. The garden is about 3 minutes walk from there. If you’re coming by train and bus, let me know, and I’ll arrange to meet you at Caldmore Green.

Edible Gardens / Wild About Gardens September Open Day

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Caldmore Community Garden September Open Day

Caldmore Community Garden – Edible Gardens / Wild About Gardens Open Day

Saturday 20 September 2014, 12-4pm

Caldmore Community Garden invites the young and the old and the ones in the middle to come along and savour our garden on Edible Gardens open day on Saturday 20th of September.

Calling all children and young people to help the wildlife and build a BUG HOTEL – bring some twigs, bamboo canes, straw and plastic bottles and help the bugs get cosy for the cold months.

To keep your fingers busy, there are plenty of lavender sachets to make and take home to make that lovely scent last through the winter.

Meet the writer – David Calcutt is starting his 12 months residency in the garden and needs to hear your story! He’ll also be collecting your thoughts about gardens for his first piece of writing.

And last but definitely not least, it’s festival time: Good Traditions will rock the garden playing its folk rock tunes on our garden stage!

Try our harvest and have some homemade Asian food made from our organically grown garden. Tea and coffee and hot drinks available.

We have come a long way to the harvest, you are truly, warmly welcome to share our garden with us!

Be there and stand proud!

 

If you want to help us set up, we will be in the garden starting from 11am.

Caldmore Community Garden, Carless Street, WS1 3RH Walsall

Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CaldmoreCommunityGarden

Send us an e-mail: caldmoregarden@gmail.com