Posted 08/10/2021

Green Fingers at Beechwood Community Garden

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.

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.