Groundwork East Project Officers interviewed by BBC Three Counties to talk about the FREE projects running in Memorial Park, Luton

This morning our Memorial Park project in Luton was featured on BBC Three Counties radio!

The whole interview is available to listen to for 30 days from the BBC Sounds website (you will need a TV licence), so check out the Andy Collins show for Wednesday 31 July 2024 – ‘Babs Michel sits in – Tell us your Mid-Week Victories’

It’s local, it’s free, and it’s really accessible

The Groundwork East Luton and Bedfordshire team have done such an incredible job at Memorial Park working tirelessly to transform the space, and are running a series of projects including community gardening, food focused courses and wildplay sessions.

Luton is a super diverse place and has loads of different cultures, and is a real melting pot, which is so valuable, because it has people with lots of different experiences, knowledge, tastes and lots of different cuisines. Something we wanted to do this year, is we looked at all the different cultures in Luton, and looked at plants that are native to these countries and seeing what we could grow here. Greater accessibility to different ingredients like squashes, winged peas and fenugreek and different kinds of foods for people.

Laura Ferrier, Team Manager, Groundwork East

It is clear from the quotes below how much of an impact the work in Luton and Bedfordshire is having on the local community which is amazing to see.

Places like this are a really good way of finding that balance to relax and feel better, if you’re like me and trying to go back to work, slowly, this is a great way to build up your confidence and self-belief, and get out of your comfort zone.

Participant

It’s local, it’s free, and its really accessible, and its good to be out in some sunshine. It’s very local, its in the middle of a residential area, anyone can come along, there’s a carpark and everything, so its very accessible for everyone really.

Participant

When you add in gardening, the social aspect, being out in nature, the sun; getting out somewhere different, it all does contribute to improving your mental health.

Participant

A group like this is really helpful for someone who has no idea what they’re doing, just to come along to learn, and get those aspects of socializing and nature in one go.

Participant

I’ve booked up for the whole summer, because it’s really good! It’s free, whereas a lot of things in the holidays aren’t free for the children. So parents find it very expensive. I’ve been coming for about three years and I just love the sessions!

Participant

A lot of people don’t have space, they have  either a small balcony, or they don’t have space at all, or they can just do a window box, or they’ve got the inside of the window that they can grow something on, or they’ve got a small patio. You’d be surprised the amount of things you can grow, through the systems called square foot gardening or vertical gardening […] There’s lots of things people can learn if they come here.

Kealey Henderson, Project Officer, Groundwork East