Over the years I’ve called ‘home’ quite a few places, from bustling big cities to small villages that you can barely find on a map, but now Gorse Hill feels like home in quite a new way. And if I’m writing this blog post it’s because part of the reason for this has been getting involved in community-led projects like Gorgeous Gorse Hill. So, I wanted to share my top 5 reasons for finding some time to volunteer with us:

1. GETTING OUT OF THE HOUSE AND GETTING SOME FRESH AIR

I know it sounds a bit absurd but sometimes if you’re stressed, or busy, or lonely, it helps to have a reason and an excuse to get you out and doing something different. Last year I was in the midst of writing my dissertation and overwhelmed with work, so I was spending more time sitting in front of a computer screen than is probably healthy. I found out about the weekly Action Hours that GGH organised and decided to go along during my lunch break one day a week when I was working from home – and I found that it was so nice to just disconnect and do something new (with lovely people too!) that I felt refreshed and more relaxed for it.

2. MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Okay, so this reason is probably (well, definitely) a bit of a cliche, right? “Volunteer to make a difference” sounds like a slogan we’ve all heard before. Here’s the thing though: it’s true. Whether it’s the main reason why you get involved in a project or group, or whether it’s a byproduct of getting involved, you will make a difference for the better. If you think about it, the smallest gestures make the world of a difference – a smile, lending a hand, a compliment. And what I’ve seen being part of GGH is that when people come along to an event – even if only once a year, or for half an hour at a time – it also makes the world of a difference to our neighbourhood.

3. BRIGHTENING UP OUR COMMUNITY

There’s no denying it, Chester Road is, for the most part, pretty grey and glum – but less so in Gorse Hill! Have you seen the colourful Pocket Park on the canal bridge? And the giant planters with cherry trees and wild flowers? And the shop shutters? The bushes and flowers opposite Burleigh Court? The planters on the corner of Avondale Road? The Ravernswood Rest Space mural opposite Tesco? The lavender planter and the painted toilet block near the Bishop Blaize? And all the art work on the BT boxes across Gorse Hill? I think that these projects add a wonderful splash of colour and brightness to the streets where we live. And, in turn, this brightens up people’s faces – we’ve seen people smile as the walk past some of the planters, stopping to smell the flowers when they’re in bloom, taking some vegetables home, kids pointing out some of the artwork to their parent on their way to school, and passersby stopping to thank us when we’re out doing GGH projects – which also brightens up our day!

4. FEELING PROUD OF WHERE WE LIVE

Whenever I have friends and family coming to visit and we go for a bit of a wander around Gorse Hill, I feel genuinely proud to show off all the brilliant GGH sites and the colourful projects, from the Pocket Park to the lavender planter, and of course all the artwork on the BT exchange boxes scattered around our streets. People always comment on how they make Gorse Hill quite quirky and unique – and I can say it’s nice to be a part of making it happen!

5. FEELING INVOLVED AND GETTING A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

And speaking of being a part of it… when we’re doing any of the GGH projects and activities, from the busy summer fair to a half hour of gardening here and there, I definitely get a sense of accomplishment from helping to make our community a better place…

 but don’t just take my word for it, come and find out for yourself!

Marje’s Park – A Volunteer’s Journey

People often make lots of assumptions about community groups: that they have loads of volunteers, that those volunteers have loads of time and no other lives and that you can ask them to do anything. What most volunteer community groups have is a small core group of dedicated volunteers without whom the group would likely cease to exist.

Gorgeous Gorse Hill fits in this latter category, although we always (desperately) need volunteers, we are incredibly thankful for those who come out in all weathers to help us.

One of these volunteers is Marje Kelly, who last week, had a small park in Gorse Hill named after her. Gorgeous Gorse Hill worked with Trafford Council and were strongly supported by local councillors: Anne Duffield and Mike Cordingley to achieve this small recognition for an amazing volunteer.

Marje talked about what having the park named after her meant and why she volunteers with us:

“I am so honoured to have  a park named after me, It just goes to show what one can achieve by being happy to keep the parks nice and tidy, anyone can achieve this and I am grateful how many people appreciate my efforts.

I spent many a happy summer helping my Grandma at her Church garden party. The weather always seemed good, there was always cake and people happily wandering around chatting and playing strange and obscure games (that to this day I’ve never quite figured out). The joy of those garden parties was their community feel, everyone coming together, celebrating the summer, chatting to neighbours and getting to know one another. Oh and eating cake.

So, in that grand tradition Gorgeous Gorse Hill is having a garden party this year on the 17th June. We can’t promise obscure outdoor games, but we can promise cake, plants, community spirit and a chance to get to know your neighbours.

It’s important for us that people know who we are, what we do and how they can get involved and what better way to do that than over a cuppa and cake. We’ll also have creative fun for kids, a plant stall, a book stall, a hanging basket workshop with the amazing Joe from Marlborough Road allotments (this is a limited place workshop so arrive early to book your place and avoid disappointment). We’ll also have competitions: you can join in our Name the Canal Bridge Pocket Park Competition and also our Adopt-a-Tree-Pit Competition where residents plant and brighten up an adopted tree pit with the winning one being chosen in September.

So, what’s stopping you, come see us. Did I mention there was cake.

It always feels appropriate that Gorgeous Gorse Hill hold our AGM in January every year, it’s dark, it’s cold and most of our planting is dormant. But our mosaic bollards continue to sparkle on frosty night and our birds, butterflies, bees and caterpillar (have you spotted our tiniest art on the bollards at Ravenswood Rest Space) art puts a smile on your face on a damp trip to Tesco.

“Snowdrops: Theirs is a fragile but hardy celebration…in the very teeth of winter.”

Then there are the snowdrops, two years ago a few of us planted 1000 of the delicate little beauties and now when they appear they herald another year for us.

But, I’m drifting off into reverie and really came here to talk about how our last year went, well pretty well if I say so myself. Ravenswood Rest Space continues to develop with the addition of our amazing mural by Venessa Scott and our incredible chainsaw sculptures and benches by John Lee; there’s still work to be done on this area but the addition of art, benches, bird boxes and yet more bulbs to keep those snowdrops company is making a difference.

As a result of winning Tesco’s Bags of Help funding we were able to convert one of the worse grot spots in Gorse Hill on the canal bridge into a wonderful pocket park. This will create another wonderful spot for nature as well as much more pleasant stopping off spot for kids coming home from school and carrying the shopping home.

Finally, we planted eight wonderful trees as part of our New for Old Project. The trees look stunning and we spoke to lots of our older residents who had some amazing memories of parks and trees around the area. These great memories will be added as carved tags to the trees in the Spring.

All of these are achieved through a phenomenal amount of hard work by volunteers, you can see below how many hours were put in last year and we are eternally grateful. This year we’ll be working hard to recruit more volunteers as a community group is only as good as its active volunteers.

So what next? We are now doing a regular action hour every week to keep on top of maintenance on our many sites. We are also planning an action packed month in the summer, with lots of activities, events and opportunities to get involved. So, if you’re new to Gorse Hill of just want to do more, get out more and get to know your neighbours, what’s holding you back. Come on, let’s make Gorse Hill gorgeous together.

Thanks to funding from Trafford Housing Trust’s Community Panels and Trafford Council, we’re working with a Greater Manchester-based organisation called City of Trees to plant around eight new trees in Gorse Hill. The ‘New for Old’ name is because the new trees will be planted to honour some of our oldest local residents. The idea came about because we know from feedback that some of our oldest residents, especially those with mobility problems, find it hard to get involved with our planting activities. We’ve been out to interview several residents now about their memories of trees, parks and open spaces in Gorse Hill and had some really great stories. Lots about the parkies!

We have two planting dates coming up that you are all welcome to get involved with:

• Saturday 12^th November, between 10am and 1pm at Cranford Avenue Park

• Wednesday 16^th November, between 10am and 12 midday at Nansen/Topfields Park

No need to bring anything as we will provide all the tools.

Once the trees are planted we plan to inscribe some of the memories our local residents have shared with us onto wooden ‘tree charms’, and hang them in the trees.

A few months back we spent much of our meeting looking through tree nursery brochures with Beth from City of Trees to choose ones for the sites we had identified. We had some interesting discussions about native versus non-native trees. I’d originally thought that I would prefer native, but Beth explained that it’s actually a good idea to have a range of different trees to help protect against disease. Ash dieback being a good example of where one disease can wreak havoc where the species it affects is widespread.

For those of you who like to know the detail (like me), here are the trees we’ve chosen:

• Amelanchier Arborea Robin Hill https://www.barcham.co.uk/products/amelanchier-arborea-robin-hill

• Cut-leaf alder (Alnus glutinosa Imperialis) https://www.barcham.co.uk/products/alnus-glutinosa-laciniata

• A type of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus Fastigiata) https://www.barcham.co.uk/products/carpinus-betulus-fastigiata

• Purple beech (Fagus sylvatica Purpurea) https://www.barcham.co.uk/products/fagus-sylvatica-purpurea

• Black walnut (Juglans nigra) https://www.barcham.co.uk/products/juglans-nigra

• Pin oak (Quercus plaustris) https://www.barcham.co.uk/products/quercus-palustris

• Corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana Taortuosa)

We’re really excited to be nearly at the planting stage!

Tuesday 29th March 2016, 6.30 – 8.00pm sees the gorgeous Brenda Smith from Bud Garden Centre, getting Stretford’s beginner gardeners growing their own from seed!

Come along to the Gorse Hill Scout Hut on Beresford Rd, and kick off your summer of scrumptious, home-grown grub. Compost, pots and seeds are provided, but feel free to bring your own.

Places are limited, so email gorgeousgorsehill@gmail.com to book a space.

A discussion on social media had led to some pretty negative attitudes from a few local residents coming Gorgeous Gorse Hill’s way and it got me thinking about community. What is a community? Margaret Thatcher famously said, there is no such thing as society (a term closely linked to community initiatives). Was she right? There are so many initiatives at the moment that encourage communities to take ownership of what happens to them, to influence this, to drive it and increasingly to do it themselves.

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The plans have been for ages to mosaic the bollards outside Stretford Leisure Centre on Chester Road. The spanner in the works was the weather. We needed 3 dry days in a row around a weekend. So just after a rainy, end of August bank holiday weekend (yes, I was camping) we got the good news that dry weather was on the way. Everyone’s diaries had to be adjusted so we had a full day to finally get this done. I arrived, with husband, brother and 2 children just after 9am and found lots of other people getting ready to start.

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