Swansea: new gardening project to bring back nature

Swansea residents are invited to join an exciting event taking place at the Swansea Dockers Club next week, celebrating the launch of a new community gardening project for their area.  

Hosted by environmental charity The Environment Centre, the event (Thursday 5th December 5.30pm-7pm) will introduce a new ‘Postcode Gardener’ to St Thomas – Ollie Lister – who will work with the community to encourage nature back into the area and support people and wildlife to thrive.  

The new role has been secured as part of a scheme being rolled out by Friends of the Earth and The Co-operative Bank, which seeks to rejuvenate over 1,000 neglected spaces across  England and Wales and bring communities with little access to nature closer to the health and wellbeing benefits it can provide.

As the very first Welsh Postcode Gardener, Ollie will oversee a two-year project with The Environment Centre which aims to increase biodiversity in St Thomas. From next spring, Ollie will be organising regular community gardening sessions to help make St Thomas greener, inspired by ideas of the local community. This might include planting fruit trees to create a community orchard or sowing native wildflowers to attract pollinators. Each session will be a chancefor local people to get outdoors, meet theirneighbours and learn some new skills while improving the local environment.  

Ollie Lister, Postcode Gardener for St Thomas, said:

“Gardening is a fantastic way to connect with the natural world and try to understand it better. It can be both physically and mentally demanding, but also rewarding and therapeutic in many ways. It is a constant learning process - just when you think you’ve cracked it, something happens which totally catches you by surprise!  

“I started gardening in my twenties, and developed a keen interest in organic horticulture, permaculture and regenerative practices, including no-dig gardening and restoring soil health.

“As far as I know, St Thomas is an area that has perhaps been overlooked by urban greening projects run in other parts of the city. But there is plenty of potential, with lots of spaces across the area that could be greened and improved by pollinator-friendly planting or growing food, for example.

“I’m so excited to launch this project in St Thomas and get to know the wonderful local community.”

Vast differences in access to nature are felt across the UK, with some of the most marginalised communities, including people of colour and those on lower incomes, being disproportionately affected by lack of access to green spaces. St Thomas was identified as an area where the community would greatly benefit from a greener environment.

By reclaiming and nurturing public areas for community growing, it’s hoped the new Postcode Gardener can help to unlock the many advantages of greener neighbourhoods. Not only do they support wildlife to flourish and thrive - providing more habitats for animals and attracting much-needed pollinators into urban areas - they also help to reduce air pollution and protect communities from the impacts of climate change. What’s more, nature is known to have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing.  

Thursday’s event will be an opportunity to bring together the people of St Thomas for a shared experience of gardening, learning and celebration, with refreshments provided.

Catherine Douglas, Chief People Officer at The Co-operative Bank, said:  

“We’re thrilled to expand our work with Friends of the Earth into Wales, taking positive steps to reverse the decline in biodiversity in communities across the country.

“Protecting the natural world has been at the heart of The Co-operative Bank’s unique, customer-led Ethical Policy for over 30 years, driven by our customers’ concerns for biodiversity and the environment.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the community in St Thomas benefit from the Postcode Gardener scheme. We hope it will create meaningful, lasting change in their community.”   

Rianna Gargiulo, Postcode Gardener programme lead at Friends of the Earth, said:  

“It’s really exciting to be embedding a new Postcode Gardener in St Thomas, which we’ve identified as one of the areas that would most benefit from this initiative nationwide.  

“We’re thrilled to see our pioneering Postcode Gardeners programme expanding to new locations around the country with support from The Co-operative Bank, and to St Thomas with our local delivery partners The Environment Centre. Bit by bit, we hope to rejuvenate 1,000 depleted spaces nationwide, reconnecting communities with nature and each other.  

“Making Swansea a little greener brings us one step closer to building the healthier, happier and more harmonious world we know to be possible.”  

ENDS