Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's Communications and Marketing Officer, Sophie Bell, joined a training day at St Ann's Allotments, which was held for Nottingham's community groups making a difference in their local areas. She tells us her story:

Arriving at St Ann’s Allotments, it didn’t strike me as a particularly large place from the road, but we were met by Horticulture Project Lead, Jenny, at the gate where we were then led down through a maze of greenery into a vast area of trees, grass, and streams, that felt miles away from the city above. This place was clearly a natural haven for many local families, with children running around freely with muddy boots and massive grins. We then walked over to an incredible straw-bale building, which had been built by volunteers and staff with wood, hay bales and clay found onsite. Here, we settled in for an intro talk from Jenny.

With myself being relatively new to the Trust, I wasn’t too sure what Nextdoor Nature involved, but this day really put things into perspective for me. There were 4 community groups present, and before we even started the activities for the day, conversation was flowing and ideas firing between groups about how they could work together in the community and help each other out – I could already see the huge benefit of being a part of Nextdoor Nature from the get-go. It brings together groups working together in the community towards the common goal of making their local area more friendly for wildlife and nature – just what Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) is all about.

Jasmine Walker, our Wilder Nottinghamshire City Officer facilitates these relationships between the Trust and local community groups in the city area hoping to make a difference. Nextdoor Nature is about NWT being that helping hand where needed for advice and support, but listening to what the community needs from us, rather than telling them. The project aims to get local people involved in nature in their way, and running projects themselves, with input from us where needed.

To begin, we learnt more about each group in attendance and heard what they were hoping to get out of this sunny Saturday spent together. Christine and Paul from St Aidan’s Church were hoping to gain some inspiration for their church gardens, Aisha from Nottingham Women’s Centre wanted to learn the skills needed to allow her to teach women about growing their own food, Elouise from The Secret Garden Project hoped to gain more practical planting skills, and Matt from Nottingham College was hoping to gather some ideas as he aims to get students more actively involved in making their space greener in campuses across the city.

We started with a tour around the allotments, where Jenny explained each area in detail. We passed through the community orchard, which is managed by local people, for local people, as well as a seating area full of families, where they were serving soup using ingredients grown on site. All of the groups were inspired walking around, and getting lots of ideas that they could implement in their own communities to immerse local people more in nature.

We then headed back to the straw-bale building, where Jenny demonstrated the best ways to plant different types of seeds and bulbs and provided the groups with resources to guide them on when to plant what. There was also the chance to get hands dirty and have a go at planting, as well as take home the seeds planted for each group’s project!

Next, we headed outside for another hands-on activity. This time, we headed to an area where potatoes and other veg are grown. The groups were inspired by the tips and tricks presented and were split into two groups to get stuck in with planting potatoes and broad beans. They then swapped plots and taught the other group how to do the planting!

After a stint in the rain, we headed back to the straw-bale building to say our farewells, where everyone seemed inspired and motivated. Overall, the day struck me as a very open experience, led by the community groups themselves, allowing them to get exactly what they needed out of the day to make the difference they want to see in their local area. I found it inspiring that we can help to facilitate this through Nextdoor Nature as a Trust!

Christine and Paul from St Aidan’s Church thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and were left so inspired, that they decided to have a go at constructing raised beds for their church garden following the workshop!