Helping Local People to Enhance Hattersley’s Greenspaces
Background
For the past five years, we’ve been working with Onward Homes in Hattersley, Tameside to engage local residents in sustainable activities. This helps to develop and enhance their skills, whilst also providing opportunities for local residents to connect with nature, their environment and each other.
Community activities
Since June, we’ve been running a wide variety of events and activities in an effort to engage participants of all ages and abilities.
Activities such as composting, tidying flowerbeds and sowing seeds helped to connect volunteers from different greenspaces in Hattersley and encourage more residents to get involved in the maintenance and development of their local spaces.
The project also introduced local people to activities they hadn’t tried before, such as vegetable pickling with the Hattersley Health Champions to reduce food waste.
Public feedback
In total, the Go Green Scheme has engaged 30 local people. Having already established a base line for connection over the years, participants were keen to get involved on a regular basis. 100% of participants agreed that the sessions had made them feel more motivated to make greener, healthier choices.
Participants were also encouraged to be creative and think outside the box. While creating a willow fedge (fence/hedge) on Polperro Walk, the group came up with ideas to make use of leftover willow stems, creating new structures to enhance the space further.
Overall, the public responded positively to activities, with one person saying that “willow weaving is really fun” and another commenting that “nettle tea is funky” during the cookery sessions.
Groundwork hopes to continue working with Hattersley residents to creating an even stronger greening community in the area.
Read about Mags, who joined the project through the Polperro Potters as a way to improve her confidence and her local green space: