September 2023

Oct 5

September was a busy month and it all started with our annual Green Meadows picnic. Thanks to all the attendees, stall holders, performers and volunteers, it was a fantastic day and it was great to see everybody taking part in different activities, trying the food and enjoying music.

The picnic made for an exciting start to September and introduced many new people to the different projects and services that we offer.

Additionally, of our projects developed this month, with new community initiatives, like the Wildlife Pond at Memorial Gardens and the Butterfly Garden near Osier Road. We also held our latest Pop-up café in collaboration with AMC Gardens and many joined us for this fantastic harvest special!

You can find out all about them below.

Recapping the Green Meadows Picnic

On the 2nd of September, many of you joined us at Queens Walk Rec for a vibrant day of activities, entertainment, food and music. The Green Meadows picnic is an annual tradition to celebrate with the Meadows community, and year on year, we love to see it grow.

Thankfully, the sun was shining and from 12pm, attendees were already laying their blankets and picnics down for the day’s activities.

We had a variety on offer, kicking off with a taster of our DIY Workshops, inviting people to build a birdbox or give plumbing a go. With many showing off their new creations, it was great to see people building their confidence with DIY, showing the myriad of possibilities when working with hand tools!

If you’re keen to try DIY out, why not join us at one of our free DIY Workshops? Sign up here.

Attendees try out DIY Plumbing and Build your own Birdbox

Our Green Meadows team and NEP team were also on hand to showcase our key projects and services. Attendees were keen to learn more about energy, be it by taking a ride on the energy bike or getting hands-on with bio-based, retrofit materials. Sharing our services with new people in the community raised the awareness of our Future-Fit project, so that more households will receive free energy saving Future-fit plans and energy support.

Alice and Jake show bio-based materials and attendees give the energy bike a spin

Additionally, guests joined us to host a variety of stalls and activities. We’d like to say a big thank you to Adventures in Nature, Cycle Saviour’s Dr Bike, Djembe Drumming, Dizzy Ink, Feral Science, Vegan Junk Food, Notts County Foundation, The Nottingham Forager, The Urban Worm, Make Good and Mend, and Pulp Friction for contributing to the day.

Here’s a quick run down of the day’s activities:

Adventures in Nature provided a natural playground for the littles ones, transforming the park into an exploration zone of colour and activity.

The Djembe Drumming workshop united everyone in a circle of drumming, creating a fantastic musical backdrop for the day's events.

Dizzy Ink led a seed paper screen printing session, where attendees made bookmarks out of compostable, seed paper, trying their hand at a natural art that leaves no trace.

The Nottingham Forager delivered informative talks throughout the day, educating attendees about the incredible variety of local wild food that grows on their doorsteps. If you’re interested in entering the world of foraging or want to learn more, why not join us at our Autumn Foraging event on Saturday 28th October? Click here to find out more.

Pulp Friction provided an exciting experience by offering attendees the opportunity to pedal on bicycles with built-in blenders, making their own fresh fruit smoothies. It was refreshing to see lots of people try something new, as a different way of generating power and definitely a different way of grabbing a drink.

The Urban Worm engaged participants in a hands-on activity, encouraging them to create their own worm farm. They demonstrated how compostable food scraps can be transformed into fertilizer, also known as "worm manure."

Check below to see the photos from the day!

Community Projects Update!

The Growing Group

On Tuesday 19th of September the Growing Group enjoyed the fruits - and veg - of their labour with a harvest meal and planning session at the NEP Climate hub.

Want to grow your own veg too? Join the allotment sessions on Mondays 3:30-6:30pm or Saturdays 9:30 - 12:30pm. It is just a 5 minute walk from the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Call 0115 718 2028 to let us know if you’re coming and we can walk over together.

The Butterfly Project

The Butterfly Project group have been door-knocking to get neighbours near the Osier Road garden site involved in planting up the area. The site is along a pathway that generally gets a lot of litter. Neighbours were happy “something is finally being done about it”.

Here’s a photo of the first clearing session on Friday 29th of September. The next planting session will be 14th of September, 2-4pm. Get in touch to join in!

Wildlife Pond workshop

The volunteer gardeners at Memorial Gardens Wildlife Garden asked Green Meadows to organise a Wildlife Pond Workshop to improve the biodiversity of the area. Thank you to everyone who lifted heavy paving slabs, pushed barrows full of sand and even got knee deep in the water to help transform this local space. The pond already looks more vibrant and full of life, as the seasons change and the plants grow the wildlife garden will have a space thriving with diverse wildlife. This pond workshop was run by Sherwood Gardening Consultancy and funded by the Green Meadows Ideas Fund. Do you have an idea? Read more about how you can get funding to make it happen here.

If you would like to get involved with these expanding projects or start one of your own, get in touch with Heather at engage@greenmeadows.uk or call 0115 718 2028.

Harvest Pop-up Café!

A huge thank you to everyone who came along to the Pop-up Café held at Awkright Meadows Community Gardens, to AMC for hosting such a brilliant event and all the volunteers for the delicious baked treats!

With a wonderful turn-out, it was lovely to see so many enjoying the free tea, coffee and cake in the chatty and cosy environment.

As the seasons change, the gardens are bursting with colourful fresh produce, harvested for attendees to purchase for their own seasonal cooking.