Food & Health Alliance

21^st March 2010 – 2pm

In the garden if weather is nice – or else in the Hopkirk Rooms (behind greenhouse)

The Children’s Garden is a voluntary group, with a committee and we do lots of things… food growing, games, arts and music events. It’s all done by people, for other people, because it’s worth doing.

When? The Children’s Garden was started in 2003 by a group of volunteer parents. Since then we have continued to develop the garden, and the committee has gradually changed as time has gone on.

Why? – The idea of the Children’s Garden is to encourage children to plant and grow food plants, and to pick, harvest and enjoy the fruits of their labour. We also find the Children’s Garden a nice sociable place to meet friends, and to run occasional events.

Where? – The Children’s Garden is in a self contained bit of the Botanic Gardens – through the gate next to the Children’s Play area. While we are in the Botanics we manage the Children’s garden on a volunteer basis.

When do we meet? There is a regular Tuesday group – about 1pm – 3pm for toddlers. There has been an attempt to get a Saturday morning group going – but cold weather has made that hard going. Hopefully warmer weather will help.

Who can use it? The Children’s Garden is available for school visits, or for other organised groups – scouts, guides etc  – though we are not staffed. Mainly the use is community use – and as a place to meet. The answer is pretty much anyone.

Are there any restrictions? Not really though we discourage smoking, people bringing dogs in, and other things that don’t fit with families and children.

Who can use the food we grow? We want the produce used for community benefit, but request that people don’t harvest themselves. We organise communal harvesting events…

How can you get involved? We need to strengthen the committee and pool of volunteers – and that is why you are invited to come on Sunday 21st. If you’d like to be involved but can’t make that date – please contact John Hancox 0778 606 3918
Or email john.d.hancox@btinternet.com