Gardening club flourishes
Published
Tuesday 30 July, 2024
Updated
Tuesday 30 July, 2024
Children on the Isle of Sheppey became budding gardeners at a family event made possible by funding from the Safer Streets project.
Swale Borough Council has 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.
The Community Gardener scheme, run by the local charity and funded by Safer Streets, hosted a family gardening event where children could 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 the green spaces and on the streets around the healthy living centre in Beachfields.
Community gardening volunteers and Sheppey Matters Garden club have also been sowing flower seeds around Sheerness to add future pops of colour to the Beachfields area and help pollinators.
The scheme is also engaging 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.
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.
Cllr Richard Palmer, chair of the council’s community committee, said:
“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.
“The Safer Streets’ gardening club is a safe space for the adults and the youth of the island to get together and enjoy a shared hobby,
all while improving their community and helping the environment.”
Cllr Elliott Jayes, vice chair of the community committee, said:
“Our Safer Streets project is helping make our Town Centres safer through initiatives like the street marshals, additional CCTV cameras and youth engagement.”
“Having accessible youth provision on the island is also incredibly important to us, that is why we are helping fund initiatives like this gardening club.
“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.”
Gemma Hunt, Sheppey Matters community gardener, said:
“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.
“The community Litter Heroes group meet monthly to tidy up the Beachfields area, which is already showing positive results.
“Additional youth gardening events and adult and youth clean-up activities are scheduled for the upcoming summer months.”
