events archive

Seed - Liverpool: The Garden City
pool arranged a Midsummer eves picnic with a difference, part garden party and part networking event we asked people to bring food and drink, share ideas and experiences, and celebrate our community of local growers, meet some other interesting characters share some stories about the food chain.

The Bluecoat courtyard is a beautiful place for music.
All ages from babies upwards came to celebrate our local food.

Richard Scott from Landlife went out to Knowsley in the pouring rain to pick cornflowers from his wild flower meadows and everyone wore urban cornflower button holes.

Ingrid brought raspberries from her plot, others had made their own sandwiches and people dropped by after doing the weeks shopping and stayed. The bluecoat caf also stayed open so that more food and drinks were also available.

Representatives from Transition Towns South Liverpool and Liverpool Organic Gardeners were there and commercial producers including Wapping breweries came. Some of the landscape architects from Austin Smith Lord, the company who designed the bluecoat garden, also joined us for the evening.
Participating councilors and council employees gave advice.
We all exchanged ideas with people we had not met before and made suggestions about derelict land that could be used for growing things, plotting these space on a map of the city and most of us got round to dancing whilst the children played happily together, babies slept, and the band played on.
Nick brought a map asking people to nominate unused sites for production of food and the list follows If you have more you would like to add please email us.
People left with the feeling that together we could get things done, it is really important to unite the different organisations to create better local food provision. and more informal networking events are needed to get to know eachother and develop ideas.

With many thanks to the Bluecoat for inviting us, everyone who came and helped make such a vibrant atmosphere. Including the band for playing such lovely music, Stan the harpist, Jonathan who held it all together and Richard for those wonderful cornflowers.

Mapping our derelict land:

1. Garden festival site, marked to demonstrate the massive potential of that site as a piece of land
2. Continuing on the garden festival site, what provision is being made for green space in the current planning? Is there room for negotiation on land usage?
3. Priory Wood. Marked by the Liverpool Organic Gardens representatives
4. St Michaels Cricket Club. Also LOG. Noted that there is a lot of open space and potential around the cricket and bowls clubs. Development of community activity.
5. St Michaels School. LOG Trees were donated as part of a planting project however permission to plant the trees on the boundary surrounding the school grounds was refused.
6. Sudley House. A lot of land that is underused but designated as belonging to Sudley house.
7. A marker placed by a resident of Garston to represent the green spaces beyond the boundaries of our map.
8. Grafton Street. A semi used playground area of flat grass around Grafton street
9. The land which was used in Frank Cotterill Boyces Grow Your Own.
10. Flats in between Ullet Road and Croxteth Drive, by the entrance to Sefton Park Cricket club. Pete Mulhall from Transitions is confident some residents would be interested in a project.
11. Bomb damaged, open patches on Arundel Avenue between Ullet road and the Smithdown area graveyard.
12. spaces 12 and 13 plots of land around Earle Road near the school which could be used.
13. See 12.
14. Plot of land on Smithdown road, observed to be unused, set aside for future property development one would guess.
15. Lodge Lane baths
16. Granby area, lots of open spaces
17. Upper Stanhope Street
18. Plot of land on Chester Street, just off Stanhope Street
19. Lots of plots of land around Jamaica street, including a natural stage area behind the NOVAS centre
20. The old central station lines in between Bold Street and Renshaw street. The new hotel and commercial development for the area could and should incorporate some natural usage around that area.
21. Empty plot of land behind the hoardings on Leece street. Opposite St. Lukes
22. Unknown site based around the housing estate on Clarence Street by LJMU and metropolitan cathedral sites.
23. Clarence street. the bull ring area has a strong and mixed community who are active when litter picks etc have been arranged.
24. Seymour street.
25. The car park by the hospital
26. The green space on the corner by the church, over the road from the Bridewell

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