BLOG: Green Community Hubs – Kate
Kate is a Project Officer at Grozone – a thriving garden, wildlife and learning project in Northwich that offers a range of therapeutic volunteering and learning opportunities to people of all ages and abilities. Once an abandoned local authority site, the reclaimed land has now been transformed into a green oasis and vibrant Green Community Hub.
Since opening 18 years ago, the space has been visited by thousands of volunteers and beneficiaries who use the Hub for a wide variety of activities, including gardening and conservation activities, outdoor cooking, craft and music.
Kate has been working as a Grozone Project Officer for the past two years. Aside from weekly toddler sessions, she is primarily involved in running the volunteering programme – whether that’s supporting volunteers with organic gardening or daily wildlife recording – and loves to observe the positive difference a day at the Hub can make for someone.
Speaking of her role, Kate said:
“As Grozone Project Officer, I run the outdoor toddler and parent sessions on Mondays throughout the year. For the rest of the week, I supervise the volunteers and set them tasks for the day. We have students from sixth form to PhD level who complete placements at Grozone as part of their course, so I manage them and set them tasks and projects to work on.
“In partnership with the volunteers, I plan the growing for the season, decide what and where to grow, and order all the seeds and supplies needed. We don’t use artificial fertilisers or any herbicides or pesticides at Grozone, so where possible, we buy organic seeds. We also practice organic gardening methods such as the ‘no dig’ technique which avoids soil disturbance. During the school holidays, Grozone has trails for children to follow which I plan out, always making sure to incorporate an element for the volunteers to help me with!”
In her role, Kate sees the importance and positive impact that Green Community Hubs have on the local community.
“Too many people don’t have access to green spaces, or don’t feel comfortable spending time in public green spaces, almost like they don’t know how to behave in them or make a connection. Green Community Hubs are very welcoming spaces where people won’t be judged and where they can make these connections. We have a wide range of volunteers with different skills and experience who are happy to share their knowledge and expertise, so having an interest in learning how to grow vegetables for example, is much more important than having that knowledge already.
“People are becoming increasingly disconnected from nature, and see themselves as apart from it. Spaces like Grozone help people to reconnect with the outdoors and nature in a non-intimidating way. People need Green Community Hubs for their physical and mental wellbeing. They are also safe spaces for people to connect with each other, build confidence and learn new skills.
With modern lifestyles leading to increased levels of loneliness and anxiety, we are seeing more people coming to combat these issues. We are also seeing more people who have decided to make changes to their lives; people who want to slow down, contribute to their local community and connect with people and nature. Grozone is the perfect place for this.
“We see the difference in people after a day at Grozone, from more relaxed body language, to the smiles on people’s faces as they leave. You also also see that it’s possible to have sustainable and wildlife friendly spaces which are still beautiful, without spending much money and without having expert knowledge. People can take that knowledge away with them and implement some of our practices at home, spreading environmental and biodiversity benefits beyond our gates.”
The power of bringing people and nature together is something that Kate loves to see.
“I introduced daily wildlife recording at Grozone. We have a book where volunteers can write down what they have seen that day. Most of the time it is the same group of people who make observations in the book, but recently one of our volunteers, who doesn’t normally show much interest in wildlife, was lost in thought looking up into the sky and said to me that he had seen a buzzard. He can’t write, so someone wrote the observation in the recording book for him. It made me so happy that this volunteer was observing nature and for a moment he was lost in the wonder of a buzzard circling overhead.
I always say to people if you visit Grozone when there are no volunteers present, you are visiting a garden. If you visit during the volunteer sessions – you are visiting a community.
Find out more about the impact that Green Community Hubs are having on people and places across the UK.
Notes to editors
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About Groundwork
Groundwork is a federation of charities with a collective mission to take practical action to create a fair and green future in which people, places, and nature thrive. We support communities and businesses to build capacity and resilience in order to tackle hardship, achieve a just transition to net-zero and help nature recover in a way that reduces inequality and leads to healthier, happier lives for all: www.groundwork.org.uk