Green Fingers at Beechwood Community Garden

beechwood

Volunteers at Beechwood Village Community Garden event

Swan’s Customer Involvement and Community Development team, along with Axis team members, key stakeholders and over 20 Swan customers from the Beechwood and Craylands estate, recently came together to begin the revival of the Beechwood Village Community Garden.

Fuelled by toasties and crepes from the Tin Canteen, the team of green fingered volunteers began work to the rhythm of the Pantasy Steel band. Those that attended made fantastic headway on the community garden, in anticipation for the Back Yard Nature project, which is scheduled to begin later this year. Back Yard Nature will help to connect young people with nature in their local community and empower them to look after their existing green spaces and sustain them for the future.

In total, more than 50 large bags of green waste were collected throughout the day. The area is now much more manageable to work on, with the support of the local community.  Bulb planting sessions will be held in the coming weeks to take the development of the garden a bit further and ready for a Spring bloom next year.

A local family at Beechwood Village Community Garden event

Thanks to the hard work by many on the day, the Beechwood Community Garden is now on its way to becoming an area that every member of the community can visit to find peace and tranquillity, catch up with friends or simply take in their surroundings.

Swan Housing Association would like to say big thanks you to all involved in the delivery of such a successful day.

Pete Morley-Watts, Executive Director of Customer Experience, Swan Housing Association, commented: “A huge thank you to so many Swan customers that joined us in helping to restore what is a key area within the local community at Beechwood Village. Green, outdoor space plays a vital role in people’s health and well-being and provides a place to educate the younger generation about protecting and sustaining their local wildlife for the future. We look forward to seeing the community garden return to its’ full bloom next Spring”.

Kayna, a local resident, said: “My children and I had a great time at the Community Garden event, thank you for the invite and we hope to return soon.”

Angel, a volunteer for Southend ATF, said: “Thank you for having me, I’m learning all the time and I’m really enjoying being a part of these community events. I’m hoping that together, all organisations can come together and bring the community back to the way it should be.”

If you’d like more information on how to get involved in projects like this in the future, please contact Community Development Project Officer, William Oldham, on woldham@swan.org.uk.

 

About Swan Housing Association

For over 25 years Swan Housing Association has provided high-quality affordable homes, creating thriving communities for those who need it most. Primarily operating across East London and Essex, Swan manages over 11,500 homes with a secured development pipeline of circa 8000 homes, contributing to its’ ambition to deliver 10,000 new homes by 2027. Through its in-house developer NU living, Swan builds new homes and regenerates communities using both traditional and offsite construction methods, precision engineering its own modular homes that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

Swan delivers a full range of housing services, in partnership with local authorities, supporting those who need it most. Including award winning care services, accredited Foyers and dedicated housing teams, who are passionate about delivering our social purpose.

Profits generated by Swan’s commercial activity are reinvested by Swan to provide regenerated neighbourhoods, investment in communities and the delivery of more homes for social rent, shared ownership and sale, driven by our belief that everyone deserves somewhere to feel at home.

Swan’s ambitious new corporate strategy was developed in response to the Covid-19 situation and focuses on supporting Swan and the communities in which it works to thrive, by finding better ways of doing things. Every day.

For more information visit: www.swan.org.uk and www.nuliving.co.uk

Media contact – Swan Housing Association

Hilary Philpott, Head of Communications Swan Housing Association

Telephone:  07880 198470  Email: hphilpott@swan.org.uk or CommunicationsTeam@swan.org.uk

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