STORY: Green Community Hubs – John
John has been a key component of the development and maintenance of Eden Gardens, Fleetwood’s Green Community Hub at Westview Community Association.
This gem of a green space had become overgrown and unused, but thanks to John and other volunteers, it’s now a thriving, colourful garden, food-growing area and haven for wildlife. An outdoor kitchen with a barbeque and cob oven is taking shape, making the space useable for a whole menu of activities.
A full-time volunteer at Westview, John’s hard work and resourcefulness are in demand, keeping him busy and providing a distraction from physical and mental ill health. It also gives him the opportunity to spend valued time outdoors, and others can see how his confidence has soared from being involved.
Speaking of his involvement, John said:
“I’ve lived in Fleetwood for 11 years now. I’m no longer working due to illness, so I come to this place as a mind distractor. Sometimes you might see me spending time away from other people and some days I can be mingling with loads of people – it depends on what my brain says at that minute. It’s worse when I’m inside though; it just gets too noisy. Outside is freedom – I’ve got an escape – indoors you’re a bit trapped.
“I’ve been volunteering here for about three years, and now we’ve got new volunteers helping me which is even better. Even then, occasionally I get stressed and I need to leave it for a few days, then I come back and it’s like ‘what was I doing?’. I can’t write things down because I’m dyslexic, so everything’s got to be memorised, but that doesn’t always work either, so I’ve just got to play it day-by-day.
“I’ve built the greenhouse and benches, had all the block work cleaned up and kept all the lawns maintained. I also throw ideas out there, so if they’re any good, they might use them. It’s literally planting a seed in people’s heads.
If this garden wasn’t here, I think people would miss it because we haven’t got much community space anymore. Even the park where I live, that’s gone. It’s the same with the community centre youth club – it’s the only one there is for miles. There’s nothing here really, so you need places like this. It would be missed by a lot of people.
People seem super happy after they’ve been here – I’ve never seen anyone leaving miserable. I can also come here and sit down, just relax with my dog or go to my allotment, so it does help.
We’re trying to encourage more people to come and volunteer, especially people who need it.