I had one of those wonderful days last Saturday, where you
find yourself saying, ‘I’m lucky to be doing this and call it work’. As
community outreach officer, I spent Saturday afternoon with our community
engagement intern, Jasmin, at a community garden in Walsall. Caldmore community
garden is a wonderful little spot in the heart of the community, it is a mosaic
of open grass, traditional perennial borders, orchards, vegetable beds and (my favourite, obviously) a wildlife area. The community meet weekly to tend to the
garden, and anyone can volunteer, it is a great initiative.
Anna Rogozinska, event organiser at the garden, asked if we
would come along to one of their community days to run some activities and we
jumped at the chance. Despite the weather a fair few local families turned out
to eat some locally grown food and to join us in a minibeast hunting session in
the wildlife area. In the breaks between the (torrential) showers we dived head
first into log piles and the long grass to see what we could find. Minibeasts
spotted on the day included bumble bees, frog hoppers and some nicely striped
weevils. It always amuses me how kids claim to be scared/not interested in
insects at first, and then within minutes of holding a sweep net, they have
forgotten about their squeamishness and are prodding slugs and snails.
It is important for us here at Sandwell Valley to do
outreach visits like this; it’s our way of reminding people that nature is
amazing and to encourage local families to get out and closer to it. Nature
finds its home even in ‘urban’ areas, we just have to get out and look for it. Remember
the footpaths through the nature reserve are always open, come along for a
peaceful walk and see what wildlife you can find.
If you would like to know more about getting involved with
Caldmore community garden, get in touch with Anna Rogozinska by emailing anna.rogozinska@organisers.org.uk,
alternatively turn up on a Thursday from 10am.
Nadia
