A newsletter full of lights on the acre; from camera lights & glowing lanterns to warming bonfires...
Camera Lights Action!
We were delighted when the BBC One Show aired a piece about Britain in Bloom and filmed many of the communities who work with Farnham in Bloom and Farnham Town Council. Our very own Ken from Men in Sheds talked about the team creating the iconic 'Farnham' bughouse sign designed by Kaz from GreenUp Britain. It was a lovely interview that covered the history of the group and the tremendous work that they do - you can see a small clip HERE.
To top it all, it was announced at the Britain in Bloom Awards in Manchester that Farnham had won Gold in the Town Centres and City Centres Category! An incredible achievement for Farnham Town Council. You can read the full article by RHS Wisley HERE with a lovely reference to the teen wellbeing sessions hosted at the acre.
teenwork
This term we welcomed back the teens from local secondary schools for their weekly wellbeing sessions. Hosted by Kelley and accompanied by school staff, the sessions are structured to allow the children a chance to spend time in nature, benefitting from the restoration it brings and helping them manage the rest of their week. The teachers shared that they had seen an improvement in the engagement of several of the students that attended last term.
They created beautiful lanterns with papier mache and natural items from around the acre and most importantly they got to play; running around playing hide & seek and having pretend sword fights. And great feedback from kids and teachers; 'get the strictly score paddles out, 10's all round!'
lantern festival
More magical lights were created by the weekly nurture group and pupils from Potters Gate School as we took part in Farnham's first lantern festival organised by Farnham Craft Town . Clever lantern packs were distributed by Farnham Town Council and over 1,000 people took part in the first procession. Pure magic.
[photo credit of lantern procession: Seamus Flanagan]
garden teamwork
The garden team continue to work magic as we move through the Autumn. The wild flower meadow has been scythed, mowed, raked and sown with yellow rattle to dissuade the stronger growing grasses from out competing the wild flowers next year. Vegetable beds were weeded and green manure has been planted to see them through the winter months. A huge amount of work!
pumpkin play!
It's been a pumpkin playground over the last few weeks at space2grow. A call was put out for free pumpkins, message received and the community delivered! The pumpkins got to enjoy the slide, were buried in gravel, painted, hidden, used for story telling and transported in wheelbarrows!
HUGE thank you!
Tuesday 19th November was the National Lottery's 30th Birthday! Definitely a day for us to wave our flags and celebrate our recent funding success.
We were awarded a National Lottery Community Grant of £198,000 and we’re so grateful that the National Lottery for recognising the work we do for our local community. The grant covers our core activities for the next three years.
Huge thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund, everyone at space2grow and to everyone who plays the National Lottery for making this possible.. and Happy Birthday National Lottery!
Thanks also go to Squires Badshot Lea and the continued support we receive as their nominated charity of the year. We were able to host the Christmas Raffle at their late night Christmas shopping event with the proceeds going to space2grow. It raised £150 - thank you to all those who popped by and purchased a ticket and said hello.
THANK YOU!
reflections from the acre...
The children from St Andrews school who come to the garden every week also enjoyed the pumpkin fun - they drank pumpkin soup, made with pumpkin and courgette from the garden, enjoyed with hedgehog bread followed by crumpets. We end with lovely feedback from the staff at St Andrew's School who reflect on the weekly visits that they are able to make and what this brings for both children and staff;
'The time in the garden allows teaching staff to be away from any distractions, enabling us to have quality time with the children and to engage in play. Our staff find our Monday's at space2grow very enjoyable spending time in such a green space and it is a great way to start the week.
It has helped the children to settle into school, allowing them an additional outdoor space to enjoy as we only have limited space at school. It has benefitted a lot of children's gross motor skills as it has allowed them to be involved in activities which move the whole body and larger muscles.
We have loved being able to use space2grow as part of our autumnal learning - we have spotted signs of the season changing and collected different autumnal objects. This has helped the children to expand their vocabulary and become more inquisitive about the world around them and the changes that occur.'
Click on the image below to watch a little clip of the bonfire night
