Community Engagement at Martenscroft Nursery
We have been delighted to support Martenscroft Nursery School to develop a new Community Wellbeing Garden.
As part of our appointment on the Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Public Realm scheme, we were introduced to their partners at the nursery to see how we could help. With sustainability being a key focus for the school, at the heart of their vision was to create an urban space which used recycled materials as much as possible.
One area was to be dedicated to wellbeing, promoting a calm green space where the community could gather to talk and share experiences or spend moments of reflection, with a view to developing a remembrance garden dedicated to loved ones who have passed. The other area would be a community library, providing a free book swap facility for children and adults. There would also be a seating area, providing comfortable nooks, where families could settle down and enjoy reading together.
We initially provided assistance with whitewashing the existing walls to create a space for a local artist to paint a mural and supplied an external bookcase for the book swap scheme. We then donated plants and delivered a planting session with the nursey children...
Community Engagement at Martenscroft Nursery
We have been delighted to support Martenscroft Nursery School to develop a new Community Wellbeing Garden.
As part of our appointment on the Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Public Realm scheme, we were introduced to their partners at the nursery to see how we could help. With sustainability being a key focus for the school, at the heart of their vision was to create an urban space which used recycled materials as much as possible.
One area was to be dedicated to wellbeing, promoting a calm green space where the community could gather to talk and share experiences or spend moments of reflection, with a view to developing a remembrance garden dedicated to loved ones who have passed. The other area would be a community library, providing a free book swap facility for children and adults. There would also be a seating area, providing comfortable nooks, where families could settle down and enjoy reading together.
We initially provided assistance with whitewashing the existing walls to create a space for a local artist to paint a mural and supplied an external bookcase for the book swap scheme. We then donated plants and delivered a planting session with the nursey children to inspire a sense of ownership of the scheme.
The children were provided with seed packs to take home in the hope this will encourage them to get involved and grow their own food. The teachers spoke to the children about flowers which encouraged pollinators such as butterflies and bees and the children enjoyed doing impressive impersonations of honeybees buzzing.
The plants were specifically selected by our team, not only for their visual aesthetics but also based on criteria such as culinary qualities, attractiveness to pollinators and for sensory purposes (such as for their scents and tactile appeal). Plants were also chosen for their sustainable qualities with most of the plants either perennial or self-seeding.
In July 2024, our team were kindly invited to the community garden open day where all the hard work from ourselves and other partners could be enjoyed.
