Volunteers are the heartbeat of the garden. The garden can’t run without them. They meet and greet, they do lots of work: planting, clearing up, watering – and keep the place going. So on Sunday, 18 May we had a volunteer session. It was planned to be informative and enjoyable, and to help volunteers get to know each other. The philosophy is simple; people are more likely to stay if they make friends.
We began with an icebreaker: Volunteer Bingo. We were handed a sheet with questions in a grid and had to find one person they applied to. For example: someone who had a pet, someone who sings or plays a musical instrument, someone who loves horror films, someone who has met a celebrity. Nine questions in all. Two I had difficulty finding a fit. Someone who likes pineapple on their pizza. I found someone in the end, but didn’t find anyone who has an irrational fear of something. Most of our fears are rational, perhaps exaggerated in some cases. I could have asked people how they felt about spiders. A friend of mind was terrified to go in the bathroom as there was one in the bath, an ordinary house spider, not a tarantula.
The questions got us talking, which was the point of the exercises. I knew many of the volunteers who attended but there were quite a few I didn’t. Mostly new volunteers. Some of the trustees were there too; they are volunteers too. It was a pleasant day with lots of food, much of it brought by volunteers: assorted cakes and savoury food as well.
After the introduction, we split into two groups. One group going around the garden and looking at what had to be done where, from the gate, to the pond. Talking about watering, and not wasting water, about composting, and getting people to sign in. Meanwhile a pair of blue tits were going in and out of the nesting box on the sycamore, feeding their ever hungry nestlings, too busy to be bothered by us.
The other group were told of the admin involved in running the garden. The garden needs about £25,000 a year to run well. This year, we expect to have about 2500 visitors. Many of these brought in by our outreach worker: from local schools, pensioners groups, home schooled children, mothers with young children, special needs children and adults. We want our garden to be used.
The shelter is a real boon, allowing groups to come for lunch, to do art sessions, and to gather children together after their wander around the garden. We have been holding our meetings there too. The garden trustees meet three times a year to keep the garden on track, but the day to day work is organised at the monthly steering group meetings to which all volunteers are invited.
The two groups came together to sing a song, one written by the children of Earlham primary school for their intergenerational sessions. The tune was that of John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Road. He sang:
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
We sang:
Romford Road, take me home
To the place, I belong
Down in Forest Gate part of Newham
Take me home, Romford Road.
It comes out better with the music. Enjoyable to sing, even if it is difficult to raise a tear for Romford Road.
Our volunteer session finished by colouring rocks, and eating what was left of the food. All in all, a great garden party.
Comments 1
Lovely description Derek, but small amendment needed. It’s around 2500 visits, not visitors. most people come several times in the year – our estimate is that we have around 700 – 800 actual visitors.