Gardening clubs
Published
Tuesday 21 May, 2024
Updated
Sunday 16 June, 2024
We have teamed up with Sheppey Matters to help keep Sheerness clean, provide people with access to gardening, and engage with youth to tackle anti-social behaviour as part of our Safer Streets project.
The Community Gardener scheme has created a safe space for adults and the youth of the island to get together and enjoy a shared hobby, all whilst improving their community and helping the environment.
The gardening club, run by the local charity and funded by our Safer Streets project, has been hosting regular family gardening events where children can get their hands dirty whilst learning about sowing and planting.
They also organise regular community litter picking days, collecting multiple bags worth of waste that have been abandoned in our green spaces and on the streets around the healthy living centre in Beachfields.
The volunteers have been sowing flower seeds around Sheerness to add future pops of colour to the Beachfields area and help our pollinators through their greening the grey initiative.
Youth engagement
Engaging with kids and teens is a proven way of reducing anti-social behaviour and gives them the opportunity to express themselves in a positive way.
That is why the scheme worked with Sheppey College students who have begun gardening; planting summer bulbs, weeding and watering the planters at Beachfields whilst discussing the anti-social behaviour they witness.
We invested in this project because gardening is an amazing way to get out in nature, get active and socialise and can have a positive impact on people’s mental wellbeing.
Gemma Hunt, Sheppey Matters’ community gardener, meets with the community Litter Heroes group every month to tidy up the area around Beachfields, and believes it has already shown positive results.
She explained: “The goal of the community gardening initiative is to inspire and involve individuals of all ages in the community to work together to enhance their living environment.
“By nurturing these spaces, the aim is to discourage and decrease littering, vandalism, and antisocial behaviour."
Swale Borough Council, through the Community Safety Partnership, worked with the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner to secure £265,616 from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund.
The money is being invested into measures in Sittingbourne and Sheerness Town Centres that help tackle the higher level of crime, antisocial behaviour and violence against women and girls.
