Report on talk "Greening Denmead"

Greening Denmead :- a talk by Charlotte Baxter-Hassall

The scheduled talk on soil on Tuesday 2nd June, was cancelled due to illness. So, Charlotte stepped magnificently into the breach and gave us a talk on the Greening movement, and how it was progressing in Denmead.

The movement started fifteen years ago and is active all over Hampshire. It is led by volunteers and its mission is to tackle climate change through small achievable local actions. Greening Denmead was set up by Josie Morrell in 2023 and attracted much interest. Current members were asked to reveal themselves and a surprising number of the audience stood up.

There have been many activities to raise awareness of wildlife, recycling initiatives, waste prevention and energy efficiency in our homes.

Charlotte has been most involved with the creation of local community gardens. There is a wildlife garden in the church grounds, and two gardens at Denmead Community Centre. The largest is under construction on the grassed area behind the centre. She displayed the plan which showed the layout of cultivation plots intersected by wood chip paths. The group hopes to grow as many diverse fruits and vegetables as possible, learning as they go, and demonstrating that no matter how small your growing space might be, you can still put food on your own table. Food that has been organically grown, has not travelled miles to get here, and has been sustained by homemade compost.

They have deliberately created metre square plots, to support the ‘Make A Metre Matter’ campaign championed by ‘Gardeners’ World’. The campaign was started to encourage everyone to have a place where plants and wildlife could thrive, even if it was only a tub on a balcony. Greening Denmead hopes to prove how productive these small spaces can be, so that local people can take these ideas home and use them.

The group was delighted when Havant Rugby Club gave them a large food digester compost maker. They can now help local businesses by disposing of their food waste and turning it into nutritious compost for their community gardens. All these activities reduce waste, conserve energy, save money, and keep the cycle of production very local indeed.

She briefly ran through other projects the group has taken in which include maintenance and repair of the willow dome on Harvest Field, and making good use of the apple press which was given to them by Denmead Horticultural Society. They hope to have it available in the future in conjunction with the Repair Café, so that local people can bring their excess fruit to be juiced.

Future plans include expanding local involvement as much as possible and documenting the benefits of the various initiatives. They also hope to get funding to plant an orchard, if there is enough land and expertise to make this viable.

Finally she stressed that volunteers are always needed. Volunteers meet at the community garden on the first and third Fridays of the month from 1.30pm to 3.30pm and everyone is welcome to join in.

We are very grateful to Charlotte for giving us a fascinating talk at such short notice.

The Flower of the Month competition was won by Jenny Hall with a voluptuous yellow peony.