April has felt like a strange month this year in part due to the long cold wet spring but the weather held fine for our event last weekend
Picture We love this event, seeing lots of plants going off to new home, the opportunity to try something new and most of all seeing what other people have brought along. This year we've had everything from house plants to pond plants. we've gained some beautiful flowers for plot 33 and some extra broad bean plants which is really good as ours had failed to germinate Big THANK YOU to everyone who came along and made it such a great day. We had a fab time chatting, swapping things, so good in fact we forgot to take many/any pictures till the end so if you have any you'd like to share please send them to us. Festival Stoke are excited to be working with the Under One Roof project to rennovate St Mark's Church in Shelton and support its use for more community groups.
From spring to early autumn we will be organising sessions for individuals and groups from the local community to attend. Activities will include sowing, planting, care of vegetable plants that will be harvested and shared with groups at montly communal meals (these will be outside whenever possible). We'll help people to create bird feeders, and bug houses and share ideas for cooking from fresh produce that's been grown. Keep an eye on our facebook page for more updates. We've been working with children and adults from the local community during February to create this wonderful marigold plates display in Stoke Market window. As part of the Hi!Culture event in Stoke we also planted marigold seeds in the outdoor planters... which will brighten up the market square in the summer!
Plot 33 (Festival Stoke's arty allotment) received support from Food for Life for a grow and share event in May. Here are artists Rachel and Anne being interviewed for a film being produced for the national Food for Life programme run by the Soil Association. You can watch the trailer below. Join The Greening Stoke team on Saturday 30th April 11am - 3pm for a fun day out at the Community Allotment Plot 33 Plant Swap
If you have plants to swap great, however, you can come along and choose some plants even if you don’t have any to swap. There will also be an opportunity to upcycle & decorate containers to put plants in We are welcoming Dan Higgs from Bread in Common who will be cooking on site for you to sample. There will be tea, coffee & of course cake. You can call Anne Kinnaird on 07921 126694 for any info that you may need. Donations gratefully received! We're looking forward to Saturday 2 April when the Tiny Folk of Stoke come to town. Part of the Hi Stoke! Festival. (An event celebrating heritage and arts in the town of Stoke-upon-Trent). The scenarios of tiny folk will be in six locations around the town including the Spode Garden, Stoke Minster and the Spode site. You can pick up a map and more information from the Festival Stoke gazebo outside the library. Starting at 12noon and running until 4pm, there'll be lots more activities happening too.
Artist, Richard Redwin is building a bespoke shed using upcycled materials at Plot 33. Richard was the artist who created the wonderful Essences recycled head sculptures that brightened the town of Stoke during the Covid lockdowns of 2020-2021. As well as being distinctive it will have very practical eco elements including a compost loo (wees only!) and will incorporate an outdoor kitchen area, a green roof and vertical growing walls, to name a few features Not forgetting that it will also, of course, be a work of art. Sooooo exciting. Fingers crossed it will be finished by the spring.
It's 12 months since artists Rachel and Anne took on the allotment at Richmond Street allotments; what a transformation there has been over the year. They've welcomed the Wonder Women and other friends to help in the work of planting, nurturing and harvesting lovely fruit and vegetables, and got creative with some wonderful art activities too during that time.
"We have had so many highlights - from the frosty January 2021 mornings drinking coffee in the greenhouse together watching the world go by, through to sitting in the sunshine sharing freshly picked salads with the Wonder Women. One of our favourite things has been to successfully growing loofahs on the plot - we produced 3 of these intriguing sun loving fruits that we plan to use in a little social enterprise project." Looking ahead to the next 12 months: "So here we are at the end of January 2022 beginning to plan our next year. Our new artist- built shed (by Richard Redwin) is on its way and will be inviting more people onto Plot 33 to enjoy planting, growing, harvesting and eating together. We also have plans to extend our activity from the allotment into the community." Keep up to date with news from Greening Stoke and Plot 33 on the blog. Have you seen our fabulous range of fine bone china mugs in partnership with Denise O’Sullivan Ceramics which you can purchase on our Etsy shop.
Based on artworks from our past festivals each mug design draws on an iconic Stoke-on-Trent feature, including the pottery industry past and present, the canals and the many green spaces around the city. Beautiful and practical these mugs celebrate both the heritage of Stoke-on-Trent and the city today. They make fabulous gifts too, and we know what season is coming up… 🎁 ☕️ 🎄 🎅🏼 FREE DELIVERY - use the code COLLECT21 on the order form and collect from Denise's workshop Monday to Friday 10am - 4pm Denise O’Sullivan Ceramics Unit 9 Summit Business Park Lingard Street Burslem Stoke-on-Trent ST6 1ED Join Anne and Rachel during October half term week in a moth making marathon. Create your own moth model from our template by adding colour and texture or make an Origami moth at these free events to add to our moth eclipse installation.
‘Mysterious Moth’ Workshops in Stoke town Stoke Library Tuesday 26th 10-12:30 Richmond Street park Thursday 28th 11-2 Bread In Common 29th Friday 12-2 Bread In Common Saturday 30th 10-4 All on our Facebook events page |
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April 2024
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