We’ve discovered a secret garden! A beautiful space for gardening and growing

We’ve discovered a secret garden!  A beautiful space for gardening and growing at the front of NewVic College.

Over the past few months, we’ve been meeting with NewVic students on the ‘My World My Home’ course run by Friends of the Earth. The students have been working on a project to create greener spaces in the college for relaxation, mental wellbeing and growing.  All this led to a fabulous meeting facilitated by the students, with Eddie Playfair the College Principal and other staff members to look at the potential to use the lovely space and empty raised beds at the back of the College for growing.

One very exciting outcome of the meeting was that the Principal revealed that there is a secret garden area that can quite easily be made available for community use!  It’s in the front, so is better for community access, it’s a large area, it’s behind bushes (secret!) and it would be quite easy to just get growing there.

We’ve had another meeting this week and the ‘secret garden’ project is going ahead.  The students are applying for £2500 from our Supporting Local Action Fund and the college will match fund if it is successful.  We are hoping that planters, trees, benches will be in place during the Spring and, fingers crossed,  the garden formally opened during Plaistow Festival week.

We have already identified 3 keen gardeners in nearby Brock Road who would soooo love to garden there!  If you are interested to join in, please get in touch.

“The students are all part of My World My Home, an exciting project between Friends of the Earth and the National Union of Students, which is training young people to be the next generation of environmental leaders. My World My Home is part of Our Bright Future, a programme of 31 projects across the UK funded by the Big Lottery Fund. Each project has received around £1million of funding to help young people step up and create what is rightfully theirs: a healthy planet, a thriving economy and a better future.” Holly Templar, FOE