Friday 7th December 2018 – AQA Introduction to Gardening Level 1 – Successful completion with the qualification by eight participants.
This 6-week course took place on Friday mornings from 2nd November until Friday 7th December 2018.
The course was funded by the European Social Fund and managed by Tom Martin of Eves Hill Veg Company, Norfolk Community College with our own part time gardener, Jo Rice, assisting.
It was held in the Grapes Hill Community Garden and was free to anyone who has been economically inactive / out of work for 12 months or more and aged 25+. This included parents, students, retired people, carers and those out of work or between jobs. Help with childcare, transport and clothing costs was also funded.
The course was a great success with one participant applying to rent a raised bed in the Grapes Hill community garden to grow his own organic vegetables in 2019, another going off to set up a community garden in her area and others thinking of applying for horticulture or garden design courses.
We look forward to more collaboration with Eves Hill Vegetable Company next year. Thanks also to the Reindeer Pub for providing an indoor space to undertake theory sessions and make a hot drink.
Tuesday 11th December 2018 – Workshops In The Garden
This year we ran four workshops in the garden: Introduction to Permaculture, Organic Gardening, Propagation and Autumn Pruning.
Each workshop had 8 to 12 attendees and the feedback was all extremely positive!
We are so thankful to the workshop providers – Ben Margolis, Ed Harkness and Jape Darby who ran such friendly and informative sessions.
The Workshops were all funded by the Big Lottery.
Monday 26th November 2018 – Norfolk Community Foundation Grant Success
Thanks to Norfolk Community Foundation for granting the community garden £2500 from the #LittleAcornCommunityFund. This starts our campaign for £12500 to pay for a waterless solar powered fully accessible and environmentally friendly compost loo with secure cabin. If you have enjoyed the garden this year, maybe at a free event or workshop or even just as a quiet natural community space to sit and relax please think about donating to this fund. You can now donate as little as £5 via the CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) website, by clicking this link.
Wednesday 14th November 2018 – Wymondham College Pupils Give Community Gardening A Go
Richard and Jo worked with two groups of pupils from Wymondham College, gardening and litter picking the wider area around the garden.
This was arranged by ‘Yes Futures’, a charity that designs programmes to empower young people to reach their full potential by working out of the classroom but within their communities.
You can read their report on the day here. They were very pleased with how the day went.
Wednesday 31st October 2018 – Halloween Event for Families
A spookily fun evening was enjoyed by families at our Halloween event again this year. From pumpkin carving to fun trick or treat with sweets and seeds, everyone had a lovely time.
The pumpkin soup made by a great supporter of the garden was delicious plus there were many sweet treats for all.
The garden always looks great in the evening with fairy lights in the trees!
Funded by The Big Lottery.
Wednesday 24th October 2018 – Please vote for us in the Aviva Community Awards
Please vote for us in this year’s Aviva Community Fund Awards. Follow this link to vote now!
Voting ends on 20th November 2018.
Friday 28th September 2018 – One Man Macbeth
We enjoyed a captivating One Man Macbeth performance by Simon Floyd under dark skies with a transfixed audience on ‘Michaelmas’ – acknowledging the coming Winter period.
The spot lighting made the stage area look fantastic with other low level lighting around the garden – it was very atmospheric!
Fran made some delicious punch and Dandelion provided some excellent music to attendees before Simon took to the stage.
It was great to hold an evening theatrical event in the garden to a sold out audience.
Sunday 29th July 2018 – Music in the Garden
The garden was alive with the sound of music from local musicians to celebrate our volunteers and everyone involved in the garden.
With great tunes from Sneaky Beats, Rhythm Travellers – The Baroness and The Bear, Iceni Rising and garden helper Tom’s new great band!
Cakes and sandwiches were served with organic wine from The Greenhouse Trust and vegan ale from Boudicca.
The event was funded by The Big Lottery and went ahead even in the rain!
Saturday 14th July 2018 – Celebration of International Culture
The popular event was another success this year, with the local community embracing our diverse city.
The garden was host to performers from around the world plus readings an poetry. Stalls included African goods from colourful jewellery to accessories and clothing. Malaysian food was served and ice cream was also available, which was much needed in the heat! The language stand was as popular as along with some gorgeous Henna tattoos.
Everyone had a great afternoon and thank go to everyone involved, including New Routes who we work with to make this event happen.
Sunday 6th May 2018 – Nature in the Garden with Hawks and Owls
This was another very successful event with just under 500 visitors, and we were blessed with some excellent weather.
Thanks to Simon and his crew from Norfolk Wild Encounters for bringing the hawks and owls that give so much pleasure to our community.
Thanks also to the Nest Project Community Art for getting everyone involved in creating the new weaving wall and all the other stall holders.
Mostly thanks to the volunteers to worked hard in the heat to make this an enjoyable day for all.
Lots of photos on on Facebook.
Tuesday 6th March 2018 – Annual General Meeting
Thanks to NNOS for letting us use the Douro Place Chapel which is central to the community the garden serves and thanks to everyone who came.
Friday 23rd February 2018 – Another local business sponsor for the garden
Surface Repair Solutions of Norwich have kindly donated £50 to the garden for business sponsorship and hope to arrange an event in the garden for their associated charity Norfolk Accident Rescue Service in the summer.
We are extremely grateful for all the latest business sponsorships which will help pay for the shortfall in the cost of the raised bed replacements earlier this year.
Friday 23rd February 2018 – Successful Big Lottery bid
We are delighted to announce our latest successful Big Lottery bid which will fund our outreach and other activities in 2018.
Under the theme of creating a ‘Nature Connection in Inner City Norwich – for Refugees, Families and the Wider Community’ we are planning lots of new events, activities and workshops.
Ellen Mary Webster will continue in her role as lottery funded part-time outreach officer and events organiser. Jo Rice, our Aviva funded part-time gardener, will be able to extend her activities to run some weekly growing projects for refugees and young families under the banner of the Big Lottery.
Look out for lots of lottery funded opportunities which will be announced on our website and social media throughout the year.
Sunday 18th February 2018 – New Raised Bed Tenants
We put on a welcome afternoon for the new raised bed tenants with Aviva funded part-time gardener, Jo, on hand to advise and help out.
New committee member, Rachel, showed volunteers how to prune the red and white currants and another new committee member, Jacqui, kept us all supplied with tea and cake.
Everyone took turns to dig over the area earmarked for a new Rhino greenhouse. The witch hazel looks particularly wonderful this time of year. The robin posed for photos and the little wren sang its little heart out!
Join us for our next Sunday afternoon get together on 11th March or Thursdays starting on 15th March. Always 2-4pm. See events posts for all future dates.
Friday 2nd February 2018 – A new business sponsor for the garden
A big thank you to Auction House East Anglia who have become our fourth business sponsor. We look forward to hosting an event for Auction House in the garden in the summer.
Find out more about this business here: https://www.auctionhouse.co.uk/eastanglia
Tuesday 16th January 2018 – Aviva Community Fund success!
It was announced that the community garden is one of the 592 winners for 2018. This means we have £1000 to fund our part-time gardener this year and put on some extra weekday volunteer sessions as well.
Many thanks to everyone who voted for us and got us through to the finals with 1,089 votes! For more information follow this this link.
Monday 15th January 2018 – Another Business Sponsor
Thanks to Jill and David Watkinson of Jill Watkinson Sales and Marketing and Norwich tweetup, for kindly sponsoring the community garden and helping with much needed funds to keep the day to day expenses covered!
If you would like to know more about the business sponsorship scheme please contact our outreach officer: mail@ellenmarygardening.co.uk.
Monday 8th January 2018 – Replacement raised beds completed
Seven new replacement raised beds were completed and installed for new 2018 tenants.
Funded by the Shelroy Charitable Trust and Little Acorns Community Fund. Constructed by www.norfolkgardendesign.com. Many thanks to Norfolk Community Foundation for facilitating this funding.
The original raised beds were rotting and overdue for a makeover. We trialed the new design by replacing the two most damaged raised beds last year; these have proved to be more solid and longer lasting.
Friday 5th January 2018 – Thank you for responding to our Survey
Our survey closed at midnight on 4th January 2018. Thanks to all who responded.
Monday 1st January 2018 – New business sponsor for the garden
We are grateful to Anne Francis of Carnival Consulting for agreeing to be our second business sponsor since we set up the scheme last year. Anne has previously sponsored the fig tree in the garden and is an occasional volunteer.
If you would like to know more about the business sponsorship scheme please contact our outreach officer: mail@ellenmarygardening.co.uk.
View older news in our News Archive.
We are delighted to announce receipt of £5000 from the Norwich Freemen’s Charity and have now placed an order for a waterless, solar-powered and environmentally friendly compost loo with a secure cabin which is due to be installed in May. In November the Norfolk Community Foundation granted the GHCGG £2500 which kickstarted our campaign and we received another £25 from Jill Watkinson via the CAF fundraiser that we set up. Thanks are due to Fran for her research into all sorts of compost toilets, the one we have decided on, the Kazuba KL1, whilst not the cheapest, looks great and is very low maintenance and we hope will give many years of service. https://www.waterlesstoilets.co.uk/kl1
25th January 2019 – Two new tree sponsors
Thanks to Tombland Books for sponsoring the ‘Boskoop Glory’ grapevine – an amusing play on words. Thanks also to Lou Wilding of the Reindeer Pub for being so supportive of the garden since she took over the pub a year ago and for recently sponsoring the ‘Strawberry’ grapevine.
Tree sponsorship helps with necessary funding for annual running costs of the garden. There are now only 4 out of 24 trees left to be sponsored.