We are working with six community groups in the Nature Recovery Corridor area to help them make their green spaces better for both people and wildlife, through our ‘Wildlife and Wellbeing’ clubs.
Over the course of a year, community group leaders and members learn a range of new skills from our Community Engagement Officers, related to encouraging and supporting wildlife in green spaces, and many community members can share their expertise with our staff and each other too! In addition to helping local wildlife, these sessions are fantastic for community spirit and individual wellbeing, as they provide an opportunity for participants to support each other’s learning, spend time outdoors, reach their wider community, and connect to nature.
We work with a diverse range of groups, including mental health charities, religious groups, refugee groups, and allotment keepers. The one thing they all have in common is that they are AMAZING groups, providing wonderful opportunities to their communities!
Hope Gardening Club
Hope Gardening Club are a friendly group who meet every Friday at the garden behind Blacon United Reformed Church. They garden for fun, joy, fitness and the all-important tea and biscuits!
How do we work with them?
We are incredibly excited to work co-operatively with the club to help improve and manage their garden for all the communities that meet at Blacon United Reformed Church. Hope Garden have grand plans for a multipurpose garden that can help provide a sense of wellbeing and connection to nature. We offer advice and opportunities for members to garden, with local wildlife in mind – but we also like to get stuck in with the weed-clearing and soil-shovelling.
What’s been achieved?
So far we’ve designed and built a pond, and cleared soil and weeds to make wildflower patches and vegetable beds. Next up, we’re looking to build compost bins to aid in recycling organic material in the garden.
Café 71
Part of the Spider Project, Café 71 is a safe, non-clinical space in the heart of Chester, open to anyone seeking support for their mental health. As well as offering advice, and a caring community, Café 71 provides a huge range of social and educational activities aimed at building skills, confidence, and friendships. This includes gardening clubs, music sessions, arts spaces, and games nights.
How do we work with them?
We have been working closely with Café 71 to offer advice, resources and a general helping hand for the weekly gardening club. This is a group firmly embedded in their local community, and they look after a number of spaces in the immediate area and beyond. They tend to several plots directly outside the city centre, small plots dotted around the surrounding streets, much of the green space around the Northgate Arena, and even the Water Tower gardens further afield.
What’s been achieved?
We have recently purchased a composter for the club, allowing them to make use of all the green waste they generate, as well as waste from the Café’s other clubs. We have purchased some more tools for the club, a trolley to transport the tools between plots, and a shed to store their ever-growing collection!
In terms of wildlife, we’ve worked with the group to transform a neglected plot in the Northgate Area into a wildflower patch perfect for pollinators. We’ve also constructed a large bug hotel in the middle of this site! After this we plan on adding lots of mini habitats to the areas around the centre, including bird boxes, solitary bee homes, and mini bug hotels.
Dale Barracks
The Dale Barracks is an Army base in Upton that was first used as a military hospital during the First World War, before it became a permanent barracks in the late 1930s. The current occupants, the Duke of Lancaster Regiment, moved there in 2018.
How do we work with them?
Together with the families of the barracks we’ve transformed an abandoned play area near the family centre into a mini wildlife garden. This will be a fantastic space for nature, as well as an educational tool for the families.
Our ecology team is also working with the Barracks to monitor wildlife in and around the site. They’ve carried out a number of investigations, including reptile and bat surveys.
What’s been achieved?
We have recently planted a wildflower patch with the families, using a Cheshire native species mix. This is adjacent to a plot that will be planted with winter-flowering plants. So resident pollinators will have food all year-round.
The rest of the garden is now full of food and shelter for a wide range of wildlife, including toad abodes, little and large bug hotels, and feeders for butterflies and birds.
Later in the year we are planning a bat walk with the families and our ecology team in the woods near the barracks, and we plan to add some bird boxes and mini ponds to the wildlife garden!
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Lache Gardening Club
Lache Gardening Club is a newly formed group that was set up by Chester West Communities Together and Health Box. The club is a fantastic support for mental and physical wellbeing, helping people connect to others, try new things and do physical activity.
How do we work with them?
Our team has been supporting the club through education sessions and workshops. We’ve been working together make the green space around the Community Centre and Lache Allotments better for wildlife and people.
What’s been achieved?
The club has planted nectar-rich plants and trees, built bug hotels and grown food plants. People can enjoy this amazing new space with the seating area the club has built.
The Unity Centre
The Unity Centre is a multicultural hub in the centre of Chester.
How do we work with them?
We’ve been working with a diverse group of members from the centre – our attendees come from all over the world! Together we’ve explored the wonders of UK wildlife, as well as the many welfare benefits of connecting to nature.
What’s been achieved?
The Unity Centre is now home to brand new bird feeders which we’ve made with group members. Pollinator-friendly plants have also been planted to attract even more wildlife to the space. Recently the group has been on a trip to the zoo’s Nature Reserve, where they explored what we’ve done for local wildlife and gained plenty of inspiration to further develop the centre!
St. Theresa’s Blacon Catholic Church
St. Theresa’s is a church containing two merged parishes in Blacon.
How do we work with them?
The gardening group at the church have been working with a team from the zoo to make a wildlife friendly area that is accessible to the senior members of the parish.
What’s been achieved?
The lovely garden area has been cleaned up to provide space for wildflowers and other native plants to grow. We’ve been letting plants grow to see what native species are in the area, and installed a hedgehog home and feeding station. We’re currently planning more habitats, including a new pond.