Uncovering a Lost Community Garden

The strong work ethic of Coca-Cola (supermarket sales team) was clear to see on Tuesday 28 June, as 11 corporate volunteers swapped their usual daily Sales work for a day of gardening that uncovered the community garden at Fishermead Trinity Centre in Milton Keynes.

This story starts with the subject of this permablitz, Fishermead Trinity Centre, a registered charity in place to serve the local Fishermead community.

The Trinity Centre building provides an ideal meeting place for events and celebrations; with large (AV and WiFi-friendly) halls for hire, a fully functioning kitchen (that local groups like their Breakfast Club use) and a secure, gated courtyard to the rear of the building leading onto a large garden space.

Back in 2017, a group of locals helped to create a community garden comprising several large raised beds for growing their own food, and went on to successfully nurture seedlings in their polytunnel and incorporate a beautiful decked social area at the bottom of the garden that could be used for community BBQs and a quiet place to sit.

How the Garden Got Lost

Over time, the garden has become neglected as the original volunteer group broke away. The problem of neglect to the garden was then exacerbated by Covid-19, as people got locked down at home and the Centre sadly had to close through the pandemic.

The community garden has since been lost to a jungle of weeds over the last two years, and as a consequence of the space becoming visibly undervalued and abandoned, passers-by have treated it the same way, and been dumping their rubbish over the fences.

Our Project

The Fishermead community wants the Trinity Centre community garden back. That is what Campbell Park Parish Council has been told. And so, the Parish Council, along with other community groups, has set out to do just that.

Planting Up were called in to help. So, supported by Neighbourly, a group of 11 corporate volunteers from Coca-Cola, with assistance from a couple of Planting Up volunteers, we successfully brought the Trinity Centre community garden back to life on Tuesday 28 June 2022.

As you can see from some of the pictures below, our volunteers transformed the garden from a weedy wilderness.

Our volunteers started by getting rid of the pile of rubbish, sorting the items that could be used, repaired or salvaged from the waste that couldn’t be saved.

All the materials were put together in the courtyard in two big piles for the Centre to take care of the next steps in managing it…

Our volunteers next got to work tidying up the vegetation.

It was a hive of activity from 10am – 3pm with everyone pitching in to tackle the different zones of the garden.

As you can see from the pictures below, they made a big impact, working together to reveal the garden beneath the weeds…

Just Look What the Team Uncovered!

Here is what the garden looked like after the volunteers had finished their blitzing efforts of the day…

“Before” & “After” Garden Transformation Highlights

A side by side comparison of some of the main before and after shots that show the extent of the transformation…

BEFORE >>>

AFTER

What an amazing team effort!

A massive, congratulatory, thanks goes to Planting Up volunteers, Abigail and Bob for their efforts supporting the corporate team, and to the following hard-working Coca Cola volunteers for their transformative work on the garden:

Thank you also to Heinz, Zdenka and the volunteers at Fishermead Trinity Centre, Councillor Martin Petchey at Campbell Park Parish Council, and Neighbourly for helping to organise this Planting Up permablitz event and making it such a huge success.