VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
In her own words, our Roots of Resistance volunteer, Lauren, shares her experiences of the project so far.
From rigorous rose bushes to calming lemon balm, from the ever-twisting kiwi vine to the silver laden olive trees, the garden at the WCML is a site of movement. An amalgamation of shrubs, trees, and flowers; a green refuge settling against the red brick of the city.
I came to the garden completely by chance. After discovering the library’s existence (even though I have lived in Salford for most of my life) I was welcomed into this community completely. Invited to join the Roots to Resistance volunteer-led gardening project, armed with no gardening knowledge nor experience, I am now part of a community that is helping to create a sense of space and home here in Salford.
Community gardens are an essential space for access to nature in the city. Within their landscape they hold a radical potential for change. In the 1970s, activists threw seed bombs over the barbed wire of the empty, privatised lots which were littering the streets of New York and transfigured sectioned-off wasteland into abundant communal gardens that now offer fresh produce and connection all over the city. Re-appropriation of private land for public use has historically been utilised as an announcement of the people’s reclamation of land. In Salford and Manchester, gardens are flowering up, reclaiming the city as public domain.
Considering the historic lack of green space accessible to residents living in urban environments, statistics from Friends of the Earth show that almost 10 million people in England have very limited access to green space, by creating community gardens we are directing the notions of place from existing within the private sphere to thriving in, and with, the public.
The WCML is a space that is sustained by the people and for the people. We are designing this garden to exist with and for the people of this city. From the nurses to the Frow’s, our garden has emerged alongside a plethora of lives and offers a transformative space to hold many more. As the claws of privatisation and gentrification are pushing more local communities out, encroaching on where we live, community gardens are imperative in creating a shared space, a space we can all call home.
Lauren Chadwick