many hands made light work
Huge thank you to all those who joined us for our weekend garden volunteer day. It was a beautiful sunny day and the long list of jobs drawn up were steadily worked through. The largest task was getting hundreds of bulbs planted across the garden. We can't wait to see the results in Spring.
There was a craft activity for the children who created beautiful wreaths out of conkers and the traditional tea break was accompanied by a delicious cake made by Susie.
We had many helpers from across the space2grow community; parents from the parenting courses, space2play sessions & the holiday clubs, members from the art groups hosted here as well as our regular volunteers - Thank you! One of the families who has been able to come to a range of the sessions shared a lovely reflection at the bottom of this newsletter and if you click on the image below you can see a video of the day.
If you would like to give us a couple of hours of your time to help us with some tough jobs at space2grow, we are starting a new, shorter session on Tuesday morning between 9.30-11am. A great way to start the day with a burst of exercise in the garden after the school/nursery drop off. Email info@space2grow.space for further details.
space2play autumn term
We have welcomed lots of new families to space2play this term for fun and adventures. An abundance of fruit this year has brought much joy to everyone and it has allowed families to harvest them for cooking projects at home, snack time and simply savouring on the way home.
Children have cooked up a storm in the mud kitchen, crafted with the natural resources from the garden and enjoyed stories and songs around the log circle. We have had fun with pumpkins, autumn leaves and conkers and created magical potions. The fun a small child can have pouring water from one vessel to another is amazing to watch!
garden classroom
Our young visitors from the local secondary schools have enjoyed getting to know the garden and carrying out different creative tasks each week - ending the half term with spooky halloween craft as well as enjoying games and toasting marshmallows.
awards and local support
We were delighted to come away with a handful of awards from the South & South East in Bloom Awards at Wisley. It was lovely recognition of the work that goes on behind the scenes into the garden. We were especially pleased to receive silver for the new environmental award as adaptions have been made over the past year to create new habitats and support biodiversity.
We also saw success at the Farnham in Bloom Awards at Squires in Badshot Lea. We were awarded silver in the Madge Green Community Gardening awards as well as a South & South East In Bloom Certificate of Excellence Award.
Waitrose in Farnham have reintroduced their community matters green token scheme and kindly selected us as one of their charities! Please pop your green tokens in the boxes. We're sat alongside two other brilliant causes; Farnham Community Farm and Surrey Wildlife Trust. With the money raised we hope to do a much needed upgrade on some of our outdoor equipment.
reflections from the acre...
This week we hear from a parent who attended the Autumn working party and she shares how the project supports her and her family;
"My two children and myself came to the space2grow gardening afternoon and loved being useful (picking up apples and sorting them into edible and compost piles!) but also delighted in the wonders of the garden (including finding a mouse!) as usual. I first came to space2grow to attend the parenting course but since, we have enjoyed the space during the Summer ‘Afternoons on the Acre’ sessions and now my daughter also attends once a month through her school’s young carer programme.
We love it and are so grateful for a site of mutual fulfilment for our whole family!"
