Community Garden? Why not?
I lived in Ellesmere for several years before I grasped the lesson that, despite its small size, our town can supply pretty much everything you need. In the early days my wife and I endured tedious trips, trekking fruitlessly round Chester or Shrewsbury, before spotting exactly what we were looking for in an Ellesmere shop. It’s a great little town and lacks very little.
One thing Ellesmere can’t offer at present is a community garden, which is a shame, because it’s a great idea with considerable benefits for those involved. Although allotments can supply many of the benefits of a community garden, a well-run community garden with committed volunteers can transform a piece of wasteland into hub of communal learning and enterprise.
The nearest community garden to us is probably the one at Glyn Ceiriog which has been running for about four years. So far it has been a fairly informal affair, but they are now working to formalise some aspects of the organisation to give themselves longer-term security. Members come together once a week to share the work, and those who want to work on other days can look in a book to find out what needs doing. A gorse hillside has been transformed into a thriving vegetable plot, and organically-grown produce is shared between those who have put in the required number of hours.
Different volunteers benefit in different ways: for some it is the opportunity to learn alongside more experienced gardeners; for some it can be a welcome break from an otherwise lonely life; others see it as an opportunity for access to more garden than they have at home. Whatever the motivation, the benefits of people coming together to work for a common goal are of huge value in our increasingly individualistic society.
If this idea grabs you contact us or ring Paul Byatt on 624460, and we’ll put you in touch with other like-minded, would-be gardeners and help you to make the Ellesmere Community Garden into a reality.
John Fletcher, Ellesmere Goes Green Steering Committee.