a magical stay
"The air was as clean as a brand new white shoe"
"I wasn't even expecting that big of a tent so thank you for giving us a great sleep."
'"One of my particular favourite moments with the animals was holding the tortoise - I think I made a friend there"
Summer arrived with a blast of fun at space2grow as we hosted London Fields Primary School from Hackney. They enjoyed a day packed full of activities followed by an over night stay under canvas.
The afternoon was a full carousel of activities including meeting the farm animals from Mill Cottage Farm Experience; working together to build rafts to race on the pond; a treasure hunt of letters hidden around the acre and visiting the cows that have recently been reintroduced to the Bishop's Meadows.
In the evening the children got to enjoy a show performed by local young professionals with the Gardener's Shed acting as a stage! A fish and chip supper from The Traditional Plaice in Downing Street was enjoyed around the campfire, followed by hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows. What a day to remember. Before they left they decorated lovely wooden medals made by Farnham men in sheds.
Huge thanks to the benefactor for the generous donation to make this all happen and to all the space2grow team who worked so hard to make this a very special visit. There is an awful lot of work behind the scenes to pull this together from making the garden a safe and fun space by the Thursday Volunteers so moving scheduled sessions by the space2play team and families who attend - it is all appreciated!
The reflections at the end of the newsletter is some of the feedback from the children and teachers about their visit which demonstrates the impact this has - making it all so worthwhile.
girlz club camping under the stars
We also had the absolute joy of hosting a camping trip for the GirlzClub run by the Hale Community Centre Team.
They enjoyed pond dipping, playing games of 'tag' and making a campfire to toast marshmallows. They were a little unlucky with the weather but that did not spoil their fun and enjoyment one bit.
Jo, the community development coordinator said;
"It was an amazing opportunity for them to just switch off their phones, relax, and enjoy spending time with their friends. They absolutely loved sleeping out with their friends and for some of the girls, it was their first experience of camping"
They sent us an awesome thank you card and we hope they'll be back again!
reflections from the acre
We received lovely feedback from the teachers as well as handwritten thank you notes from the children from London Fields School. They were a delight to read. Full of expression, joy and appreciation.
'I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in the amazing camping experience Year 5 had at Space2Grow and Lou's place last week. We had an incredible time and you were all so amazingly generous with your time, resources and support. Everyone here is incredibly grateful for everything that you did and especially to you, Nicola, Kelly, Lou, Finn and the wonderful actors who performed for the children. What an experience - year 5 will be talking about it for the rest of their time in primary school and quite probably the rest of their lives!'
And we just loved this description of the project - the best!
'I think it is necessary to praise the actual area that we played in. I would highlight the maze, because when you get to the centre it is very peaceful and the bamboo archway because it is exciting, and very much like going through a jungle. I also liked the paths at the back of the area, they were very good escape routes, and how could I forget, I loved the place where we all set down for our campfire"
