greening

Barking Food Forest and Riverside Bridge School receive £10K from GLA Climate Kick-Start Fund!

Barking Food Forest and Riverside Bridge School, supported by Thames Ward Community Project, have been successful in a joint application to the London Schools’ Climate Kick-Start Green Schools Grant, and will receive £10K for the projects! Out of all the schools in London that applied, we were 1 of only 5 that were successful.

The proposal was for funding to create solar-powered rain-fed watering and electricity systems for both sites that will be fully self-sustainable and renewable, supported by a qualified permaculture teacher and electrical system consultants.

The funding will purchase:

A durable greenhouse for the Riverside Bridge School edible garden, to replace their previous one that had blown away.
A performance stage for BFF with an integrated rainwater harvesting roof , under-deck water storage and solar powered irrigation system.
Solar panels for both sites.
A portable solar electric system for BFF.
Specialist consultations.
Teaching hours from a permaculture specialist.

Student and wider community engagement

The project will hugely increase the students’ exposure to local wildlife, climate and pollution issues, engaging them in regular outdoor activities. Students will see, hear, smell and feel the natural world and their own roles as custodians and guardians.The irrigation and renewable energy systems will enable the projects to continue food growing activities through the seasons and be a working example of regenerative resource management, modelling how we can aim to not only be neutral in our environmental impact, but actually climate positive.BFF weekly sessions have already begun and students have been bringing siblings and parents along to participate. The central and highly visible location of the project aids in the project acting as a bridge between the student body and the wider local community.Students will gain exposure to local, organic fruit and vegetable production: renewable electrical energy and the shared experience of working together with others to create a long term asset for the local area. As a result it will improve students’ sense of agency and give them a skill set they can take forward in their lives as young adults of the future.

TWCP x Barking Food Forest at The Wilds Launch

Over 400 local residents attended the Wilds at Barking Riverside Launch on Saturday 24th July! It was encouraging to have staff members and trustees from Thames Ward Community Project attend throughout the day, to support our talks on the Barking Food Forest Project, and also an overview about the work of TWCP. We were also thrilled to get residents involved in our mapping exercise, which saw them write down issues and ideas for solutions surrounding health and wellbeing.

Barking Food Forest Talk

Nikhil Rathore, Barking Food Forest Team Lead, kicked off the launch festival with a talk about the anticipated project and updated local residents on the upcoming workshop.

The Barking Food Forest is a local community gardening project, based in Barking Riverside. It will be a space for residents of all ages to grow, learn and socialise together, whilst supporting the biodiversity of the local area.

He highlighted the key milestones of the story so far, including: the YCAG campaign for the site, co-design sessions with students and local residents, the strimming and ground penetrating radar scan of the grounds, and the Pavilion Project – with students from Riverside School working in partnership with Make:Good design firm to design a pavilion that will go on the site.

Lastly, the team were excited to share the news of our upcoming Planter Build Workshop:

Date: Saturday 7th August 2021

Time: 12pm to 2pm

Location: at the Wilds Ecology Centre

Talking Thames - Thames Ward Community Project Talk

Jamie Kesten, Rahela Begum, and Zainab Jalloh were supported by Emmanuel Oreyeni who shared on his experience with TWCP and how he has developed his art career. It was encouraging to see so many local residents attend the talk and share on their own passions surrounding the arts, health and skills.

What is The Wilds Ecology Centre?

The Wilds is an amazing ecology centre and community space for the public in Barking Riverside! It is a space for growing, playing, eating and sharing. A place for co-working and developing new skills. The Wilds is designed and managed by Barking Riverside Limited (BRL), and includes a coffee shop called GROUNDED, brought to you by Coffee:Works, a new co-operative business created by Every One Every Day and a group of local people. The space also hosts workshops, exhibitions, and special events.

You can also co-work from The Wilds, hire the space for making, growing, and learning, and take advantage of other membership offers.

Find out more: https://thewildsbarkingriverside.london/whats-happening/

Barking Food Forest Update: Vegetation Cut, and GPR Scan Complete!

Resident steering group member; Nikhil Rathore, was able to prepare the grounds for a ground penetrating radar scan to be completed, with support from TWCP, a local resident and Thames View Community Garden.

The vegetation was cut back by the team, and next steps will include building raised beds on the site. The team hopes for Barking Food Forest to be open to residents in due time.

Positive feedback from Barking Food Forest co-design sessions

Barking Food Forest is a new community gardening project in Barking Riverside that will benefit local children, young people, families and wider residents of all ages.

The Barking Food Forest will be next to the Riverside Campus. It is a great location that boasts part of the nearby Thames Estuary, in which Brackish water species live. It will also provide a much needed community green space, which is lacking in Thames Ward due to being cut off by the A13.

The Event

The Barking Food Forest co-design sessions were opportunities for TWCP staff, resident steering group member; Nikhil Rathore, and local residents to come together and hear the plans and vision for the forthcoming Barking Food Forest. Most importantly, local residents were also invited to share their views and suggestions on what they desired to be a part of the garden. Particularly, residents were able to give input on what plants they would like to grow, what features the shared garden space should include and what activities they would like to enjoy in the space.

Nikhil Rathore introduced the project as a “community effort” and explained the permaculture approach that would be adopted. He stated that the food forest would be a space that was permanent; sustaining itself and regenerating nature, and pointed out a few principles such as catching and storing energy. Local residents were then invited to introduce themselves and share what their favourite nature spot was.

The session continued with Nikhil providing more detail as to the structure of a food forest; a garden system design that has multiple layers. He named seven layers that would be incorporated into the garden (canopy, lower tree-level, shrub layer, herbaceous layer, soil surface, root layer, vertical layer), and their benefits, such as weed protection.

Local residents were then told of the progress of the project so far, which included:

– Campaigning: YCAG’s winning campaign for the site of the food forest.

– Co-designing: YCAG and other students from Riverside campus informed the initial food forest design. Sessions with local residents.

– Preparatory infrastructure works are currently taking place.

The session ended with a collaborative Jamboard where everyone shared their ideas on the themes of a garden and forest, what plants and features they would like to see, and aspects of the project people were most passionate about.

The Impact

The sessions were well attended by local residents. Residents found it empowering to know that their ideas would be incorporated into the design of the garden site and the activities to be held there.

Loving it! Planting something, being surrounded by nature! I’ll be there!”

Steff

Really excited about the prospect of a community garden as I used to have an allotment. It'll be nice to have something were lots of people are involved!

Emilda

The enthusiasm and honest opinions from the local residents were well received and would be vital to the continuing progress of the project.

We really need a communal space for the community to be able to engage with each other after lockdown.

Helen

Next Steps

The updated design will be shared with the community, reflecting the input from both the local residents and student co-design sessions.

In person gardening sessions will be announced as soon as soon as national restrictions allow.

If you would like to join in gardening activities please complete the form below and/or follow TWCP social media channels.

– Weekly sessions (x2 hours): Midweek evenings, designing regenerative garden systems.

– Monthly sessions (x3 hours): Weekend daytime sessions, guest expert visits, intergenerational sessions.

How To Get Involved

If you would like more information about the Barking Food Forest, please complete the form below.

Tag: greening