Previous Community Grants
The Elms, Nailsea – a lost garden
Avon Gardens Trust is working closely with the Heritage Team at North Somerset Council to remove The Elms Colliery, also known as Middle Engine Pit, in Nailsea, from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register. The site is on the Register due to the risk of vandalism and further decay and the Council, who own the site, now want to restore the site so that the public can access the site. Middle Engine Pit dates to…
Tortworth Forest Centre
TORTWORTH FOREST CENTRE – AN UPDATE Grey clouds for their April Open Day did not deter families, especially those with young children, from coming out to enjoy the space. Space with activities, forest trails, the goats to talk to and a big cook pot with a delicious stew cooking on the camp fire. Rebecca Cork and her helpers had put together a fun day. Dating from the 1890s Tortworth it is an important heritage site….
Blaise Community Garden
Blaise Community Garden Avon Gardens Trust has made an award of £1,200 to help with the restoration of a Victorian greenhouse in Blaise Community Garden. This walled garden was originally the garden for Blaise House but since then had been used by several organisations including Bristol City Council to grow bedding plants and Cannington College teach students about horticulture. For ten years, the garden was in disuse but in 2013, the Friends of Blaise and…
Page Park Drinking Fountain
The Drinking Fountain in Page Park The Trust has recently made an award of £1,000 towards the restoration of this Edwardian drinking fountain. Situated in the Staple Hill area of Bristol, nineteen acres of land for a public park was donated in 1910 by Arthur William Page, a local solicitor. In the last few years, with help from South Gloucestershire Council, the Big Lottery Fund, and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Friends of Page Park…
Dry Arch Growers – September 2017
In January 2015 Dry Arch Growers in Bathampton planted fifty apple trees and we were delighted to have donated many of them. Move on to September 2017 and their first fruits are ripening. The reward for all their careful nurturing. It was in 2011 Dry Arch Growers set up their weekly vegetable box scheme. Six years later in March this year the cooperative took the decision to change their operating mode. They began the process…
Blooming Whiteway
Claire Loder had a dream; she dreamt the front gardens on the Whiteway estate in Bath were full of plants, flowers, shrubs, fruit and humming with insects which had attracted more birds. So Claire did something about it and together with like-minded friends and neighbours, she set about publicising and organising a Festival of Front Gardens for the summer of 2017. They wanted to celebrate Whiteway’s front gardens and public facing spaces, bring Bath to…
Easton Community Garden
I first visited the Easton Community Garden in September and discovered a very well laid out productive space next to a small Trading Estate near Greenbank Cemetery. I was shown round by Cristina Crossingham who had been an early member of the community enterprise. In 2001 the land had become a neglected allotment site. The first volunteers to see the potential of the site were a Bristol Permaculture Group who undertook negotiations with Bristol City…
Dry Arch Growers – October 2016
A fun day at Holcombe Lane in Bathampton with families coming to celebrate the Apple Harvest. They enjoyed games for the children, freshly baked pizzas, cakes and of course apple juice and cider as well as tea. Great folk style music from Arcoustic provided entertainment. Together with Orchard Share, their Bath Apple Juice has become a popular and successful brand. Apple pressing demonstrations continued throughout the afternoon with some of the older children lending a…
Hartcliffe Health and Environmental Action Group – October 2016
A blustery storm last winter ripped the oldest poly tunnel to shreds, quite beyond repair. This largest poly tunnel provided a good growing space plus it could be used for demonstrations. Inside the poly tunnel there was also an old vine which produced an abundant crop of sweet black grapes every year. Clearly the vine would not survive a winter without shelter. The group applied to the Avon Gardens Trust to see if there was…
Remembering Bristol’s Australian Pioneer
Over the last few years Avon Gardens Trust has worked closely with the Woodland Trust and the Friends of Bishop’s Knoll Wood at Bishop’s Knoll in Sneyd Park. One result has been an interpretation board at the entrance to the site which features the AGT logo. Wendy Tippett has researched the site and has written a number of articles for the Trust including ‘Bishop’s Knoll Hospital’ in Journal No 8. Representing the AGT, Wendy joined…
Knowle West Health Association – “Now we can visit all of the garden”
When I visited Knowle West Health Association I came to understand the wide variety of services, activities and projects they run to promote, protect and preserve good health and wellbeing in the community. Among these is the Let’s Grow Community Allotment site in Andover Road, Knowle West. This community space occupies a beautiful 1.3 acre allotment plot with stunning views over Bristol and is managed by a small team with help from volunteers. The Association…
Activities, Bluebells and Primroses – May Day at Tortworth Forest Centre
Many families came to Torthworth Forest Centre’s Arbor Fest Day on 1st May. So much hard work during the winter had achieved a transformation since I was there last summer. A year ago what had been impenetrable scrub below trees now had a cleared path to walk through and one can begin to see the shape of the original layout of the arboretum. I reached an amazing old goat willow its branches spread out along…