Come to our fair tomorrow for magic and music! Pizza and pond dipping! Cake and community! Crafts and crowns! Bike and bird feeders and bobbing! Sunshine, soup and the last weekend of summer!
Author Archives: GHCG
Adventure, sunshine, pizza and social exclusion
July 2, 2015
Hi everyone,
Hooray for June! Everything is growing! especially the weeds (though not the beans that seem to only be grudgingly inching up their poles whilst some have even surrendered to the slugs – cowards!). High summer is just round so that means tomatoes and melons and tasty treats as well as our tried, tested and loved summer adventure days!
We’re calling all explorers, dare devils and dinosaur hunters! We invite you to come with us as we try and find the ancient and lost Amazonian Golden Garden to find out if the rumours are true and … DO DINOSAURS STILL ROAM THE EARTH?!?
Adventures run 10am-4pm Tuesdays from 28th July until 25th August. Places are limited to just 16 and are filling up fast, it’s still £25 including pizza and snacks. So please pass the message onto any 5 -12 year olds you know with a sense of adventure, big imaginations and an appetite for danger. It’s a great chance to discover a lost cilvilisation! Be amazed by the strange creatures! Hunt for ancient treasure! and try not to get eaten by a T-Rex!
It’s also time for our seond annual Friends of the Garden pizza night. Wednesday 22nd July 6pm-7:30pm. So if you’ve got a spare £2 burning a hole in your pocket at the end of each month why not donate it to us and become a fabulous Friend of the Garden! Get a heartfelt thanks on the website and a froggy pizza and the fuzzy feeling of joy that comes with giving. You can join up on the night but please let me know if you plan to come.
And I’m happy to annouce a new partnership with Growing Support who’ll be workiing with the us to spread the word to local older peple with dementia and older people suffering from social exclusion. They’ll be supporting individuals to get involved and helping us to be more accessible. This can only be a good thing and Dale is running a free training event for us in our Bale House Thursday 2nd July 6:00-8:30pm. This is open to anyone though places are limited. Please let me know if you’d like to come along and I’ll make everyone some tasty soup.
Also, do you remember the spring fair? hmmm? Do you remember how great it was?? Imagine how proud you’d have been if you’d helped organise it!! Well it’s your lucky day. The wonderful events commitee is recruiting new members – minimal meetings and maximum fun! Get in touch for more details.
See you in the garden!
Lucy
Epic fair! Epic month! Epic update…
May 18, 2015
Hi everyone
So… the Big Spring Fair! What? you weren’t there!? Well basically… we smashed it!
Here are the stats.
People through the gate: Official count on the gate 647 (but add to that volunteers and folks who came in other gates then we def had over 700 people!)
Money taken. £1970.50. Pardon? yes £1970.50
Number of homemade cakes left over: 0 – we sold out!
Number of vegan cake options: 8 (you guys are ace)
Plants sold: £654 worth!
Badges made: 64
Bespoke made songs written in honour of the bale house: 1
(Thanks Dave ‘Lennon’ Taylor and Pete ‘McCartney’ Clee)
Number of minutes Pete sat chatting to folks about Bale House: 95
Number of people falling in the pond: 0! An all time low
Number of musical acts: 6! It was like Glastonbury!!
Number of vols (including musicans and cake bakers): Well over 100 – angels one and all!
The sun shone and the garden was full of happy people. Joy! But that’s not all we’ve been up to. The last month was a epic month for the garden and we had another 300+ people using the garden including two groups from Ashley Down Primary, Magic Dragon Nursery and King’s Weston Special School, visits from our golden groups Bishop Rd Primary Environment Club, Beanstalks Nursery, the Bishopston Beavers AND I worked with some fab NEET young people on the CYN Creative Careers course who spent 4 weeks learning woodwork, gardening and upcycled pallets into planters! AND our two toddler groups AND up to 40 folks coming on a Wednesdays (and Saturdays) including new work experience students with LD from Ashley Down College.
A brilliant busy bustling buzzing month of people in the garden. Thanks to everyone who helps to make this possible. We currently have one spare raised bed for a community group to use so get in touch if you know a group to could benefit. And now’s a good time to join our ‘Friend of Golden Hill’ because we’ve just starting thinking about a date for our fabulous friends of the garden exclusive pizza evening!
Also we’ve got a FREE TASTER session of our Golden Buds next week Tuesday 26th 1:30-3, let anyone you knnow you might be interested. We’ll be running Golden Adventure Days for 5-12 year old Tuesdays 28th July- 25th August. The theme hasn’t been set yet but I had heard murmurings about dragons spotted in the Bishopston area….
And finally get in touch if you’re interested in hiring the Bale House for a well behaved shindig, knitting circle, book group, choir practice etc and to find out about availibilty and themes for kids’ parties.
See you in the garden!
Lucy
P.S AND in all the excitement I nearly forgot our very own Mr Fruggles the pizza frog featuring in this month’s BBC Good Food Magazine, p. 42. He’s a celebrity! … but the fame won’t change him.
Lucy Mitchell
Sunshine times
April 10, 2015
Hi folks,
We’ve still got spaces on the raised bed workshop tomorrow morning! Just a fiver, pick up some woodwork skills, help out the garden AND get a tasty lunch thrown in! Send me a quick text if you fancy it.
AND it’s just four weeks to the BIG SPRING FAIR and launch of our beautifulBishopston Bale House and WE NEED YOU! Every year our lovely spring fair provides a lovely afternoon for 400+ local folks and raises us loads of money. And who make it happen? An fabulous army of smiling volunteers! They get cake! You could be one of them! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get in touch if you’ve got an hour to spare or plants to donate (or just pop them in the polytunnel), or can bake us a tasty cake!
ON the day we needed dough kneaders, pizza cookers, gate keepers,cake sellers, pond dipping supervisors, kids’ activity helpers, plant stall lookers after and MORE!! So why not just be amazing and get in touch now so I can start filling in my spreadsheet now. Hmmmm?
AND finally yes the weather is glorious and we had fab days with our golden adventurers! Shipwrecks and treasure maps, dens and rafts, fires and facepaint and friends. The two days were booked out but don’t worry we’ll come up with some even more fun plans for the Tuesday in summer holidays but make sure you get in early!
Good times. Golden Buds starts again next Tuesday and we’ve still got the last few spaces free in the afternoon group and if you’d like to volunteer with the kids on Tuesdays, it’s lovely and let me know. And in the garden we’re still busy planting many many seeds and soaking up the sunshine. Happy plants and happy people, like Ben with this gurt big mustard.
See you in the garden,
Lucy
Lucy Mitchell
Beds, Buds and the Bishopston Bale House
March 27, 2015
We have -at last!- a name for our beautiful strawbale building…. The Bishopston Bale House, or just the Bale House to friends (maybe even Baley!). Yes I know I said we’d put it to the vote but we had so many suggestions and had dithered for so long that we ignored the full democratic process and went with this. Snappy, informative, and easy to say (and yours for just £10 an hour!)
We’ll be having the Big Grand Opening at our Big Spring Fair Saturday May 9th. Expect ribbon cutting, cake, morris dancing, plants for sale, brass band music, pizza, a human jukebox, kids stuff galore and a chance to celebrate and appreciate all the hard work and love it took to build (and carry on building – thanks Pete and Bob! and thanks Garlic Tony for our fab poster)
Also we’ve gotten our muddy hands on some Green Capital money to build a new raised bed area for volunteers without gardens to take on individually. We’ll be building a couple at a workshop 10am-1pm Saturday 11th April. It’ll be a lovely and relaxed morning and a great place to pick up some basic wood working skills. Spread the the word. It’s only a fiver! – including lunch!! Bargain!!! (thanks Green Capital and the Neighbourhood Partnership!)
And we’ve had a great term at Golden Buds- the new wheel barrows went down a storm, the sun shone and we even had the fire wok out for toasting snacks. The morning group is full for next term but we’ve gotspace in the afternoon group 1:30-3, so get in touch (and thanks to Lindsey, Nikki, Pauline, Caroline, Christopher, Joe and co who sing, dig, dip, and keep everyone safe).
We’re all ready for the Golden Adventure days starting next week – and if you’d like to volunteer for a day or games, pizza cooking and general silliness in the garden Tuesday 31st or Tuesday 7th then get in touch. It’s a castaway theme, we’ve got loads of kids coming along and we’d love some more hands on deck.
And in the midst of all this spring has sprung and the Wednesday volunteers have had their noses to the grindstones planting, planting, planting soooooo many seeds and the polytunnels are filling up nicely (thanks Sue!). It’s a great time to come and get involved. Especially if you like planting seeds.
See you in the garden
Lucy
p.s erm …. also it’d be great if you could like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@ghcgarden), sharing our posters online helps us reach loads more people, get more people involved and is Good For the Garden
Golden Adventure – Easter castaways
March 6, 2015
Ahoy there! Calling all 5-12 year olds looking for a spring time adventure!
Hop aboard the Good Ship Golden Hill with Captain Clare and the Able Seabadger, but uh-oh … hope we don’t get shipwrecked and washed up on Garden Island. We’d have to build shelters, forage for pizza, hunt for treasure and try not to get eaten by sharks! Eeeek!!
Places are already filling up and are limited to just 16. I’ve attached the forms below but give me a quick ring/text/email to check our availability. Tuesday 31st March and Tuesday 7th April 10am-4pm £25 including pizza and snacks.
Looking forward to seeing your castaways in the garden for maps, obstacle courses, frogs and general silliness,
Lucy
Spring News from the Garden!
February 26, 2015
Hi everyone
YAY! Spring’s here! It’s official and if you’re in ANY doubt pop in to the garden and stand by the pond. Take a moment to listen and be calmed by the gentle chorus of croaks and splashes from the frogs in the pond. Yup they’re back, and there’s LOADS of them! Here’s a couple enjoying a piggyback.
More new beginnings with our new afternoon toddler group, every Tues 1:30-3! It was great to welcome even more parents and more toddlers to the garden. We’ve been running for a full year now and it’s been great fun and I’m massively grateful to the fab volunteers who make it happen. I should mention that one of the our biggest achievements is not losing the two little plastic men out of our diggers. Incredible!
And new season, new name – we’re still looking for a new name for our beloved straw bale building. Thanks for the great suggestions including the White House, the Straw House, the Eco Snug, the Cottage, Bailey, the Bale House etc… Let me know if you can think of any more and we’ll put it to the vote with the next email.
News flash! We’ll be running the Golden Adventure days in the Tuesdays in the Easter holidays (31st March, 7th April 10am-4pm) but 5-12 year olds can expect more garden based mayhem, imagination stretching games, a giant badger and pizza. £25 booking essential! We haven’t decided on a theme yet but here’s a picture to show whatever elaborate fun me and Clare dream up sometimes the best times are had when you spontaneously spend the afternoon in and out a bin.
So things barrel on, the days get warmer and longer, green shoots appear in pots, new faces arrive in the garden and we’re all geared up for our fourth growing season, come get involved! The only cloud on the horizon is a local ginger and white cat has started climbing on our polytunnel for fun. Claws + plastic = potential disaster!!
See you in the garden.
Lucy
Birthday Bonfire! This Saturday 11-2! And pizza!!
February 6, 2015
Hi everyone and happy birthday to us!
3 Glorious years! Here’s some stats….
Folks who’ve come together and volunteered to help make the garden so fab =447
People who’ve come along for visits/tours/pond dipping trips = 584
Number of school children who’ve fallen in the pond = 4 (arf arf)
Folks attending our 9 community events = 3015
Number of community events without biting winds or rain = only 2!
Average number of volunteers in a garden on a biting cold January Wednesday =20
Number of gorgeous strawbale buildings built = Just 1 but it’s a corker!!
Number of solar powered water pump allotment based water recycling systems in the UK =- 1! And it’s ours!
Sooooo we’d love it if you came and celebrate with us this Saturday 7th Feb 11-2 , we’d love to see you if you’ve not been able to make it down in a while and we’d love to meet you if you’re coming for the first time.
They’ll be a bonfire, the pizza frog will be fired up and we’ll provide dough and sauce if you bring toppings! They’ll be some gardening to do or we can suit around chatting and eating cake (any and all cake donations welcomed). We’ll have the stove on in the straw bale build to stay cosy and they’ll be tours for folks who’d like to learn more about the garden. Everyone welcome!.
See you in the garden!
Lucy
January 19, 2015
Hi everyone
It’s getting a bit late for a happy new year about how about, er.. happy new growing season!
Nothing shouts “C’ mon growing season, we’re ready for yer!” quite like a spanking new floor and a spick and span polytunnel, so this week Sue and Sohpie got busy putting in sweet peas. We’ve also got an amazing new finish to the floor in the almost-very- nearly-finished strawbale building (hats off to Pete, Bob, and Dougie!) . My photo didn’t do justice to it’s glory so you’ll have to come and have a look…
And when better to pop in and say hello than our…. 3rd birthday bonfire! 7th Feb 11-2. There will be cake, and gardening, and we might even fire Mr Fruggles and pizza frog! By the by it’s becoming a bit of an effort to keep saying STRAWBALE BUILDING is anyone can come up with a better/snappier name for this magnificent structure I’d be very grateful… or else it’s going to be know as the SBB. Can anyone do better….?
Another exciting announcement is we’re launching a new Golden Buds toddler group 24th Feb 1:30-3pm. £5 a session, £2.50 for extra siblings and under 12 month babies come for free. We take bookings by the term and booking is essential. Get in touch if you know a small person who likes digging, playing, singing, watering, crafting, eating, looking for newts and it is up for some adventures in the garden and hasn’t got a nap booked in then! And if you’d like to come along and volunteer and at these lovely sessions then get in touch as soon as possible because I think we will be fully booked.
Oh and though it’s ancient history now the wonderful hardy folk who turned out for carols on a wet, windy and wild night last month. Thanks to all 126 of you we raised over £200 and enjoyed one of our biggest bonfires yet! Thanks for everyone that helped!
Lucy
Lucy Mitchell
Community Project Worker
The Golden Hill Community Garden: Horfield’s Accessible Allotment and Edible Forest
07506 905 394
Come sing by the fire! Wednesday 17th 6-7:30!
December 16, 2014
Hi everyone
It’s tomorrow! The carols are tomorrow! The bonfire is built, the song sheets are printed and the marshmallows are ready to go! Wednesday 6-7:30. Wrap up warm, bring a torch and tell everyone you know. Let’s gather round the fire and lift raise our voices up to the stars!
It’s also chance to get your hands on one of our fab calendars (great gift idea!) or a beautiful wreath made like the ones made by the lovely attendees at our wreath making workshop
And we’d LOVE some help tomorrow night so if you can spare 45 mins to help serve hot spicy apple juice to the happy punters then pleasepleaseplease let me know!
AND in other news we have some spaces on the Golden Buds toddler group for next term but only 2 spots so hurry at get in touch as soon as possible.
See you in the garden!
Lucy
Lucy Mitchell
Community Project Worker
The Golden Hill Community Garden: Horfield’s Accessible Allotment and Edible Forest
07506 905 394