Glengall Wharf Garden is a peaceful green oasis at the east side of Burgess Park, Peckham. GWG is managed by and for local people using sustainable growing techniques and permaculture to develop the site as a place to build skills, community and wellbeing for all of our gardeners and visitors.
The Garden, which has been awarded the Green Flag Community Award since 2015, includes food growing beds, a forest garden, a healing yurt, beehives, chickens, ponds, a campfire and a composting toilet and
Our Aims are to:
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Work with the local community to increase the understanding of healthy, local, fresh food.
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Promote food growing, organic horticulture, permaculture and other ecological issues through skill sharing and volunteering.
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Bring people together, building links within the community for groups and individuals.
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Help improve the local green environment in Burgess Park and the surrounding area.
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Help regenerate the local community, contribute to sustainable development in London and enhance the life of the park.
Community members are able to get involved through volunteer gardening sessions led by our gardeners and through food growing courses. In addition, members of the public are usually able to visit and walk around the garden when it is open.
For several years, the food we have grown has been donated to the local foodbank in Peckham to provide a variety of fresh and organic options. As the economic impact of the pandemic continues to be felt, and more people lose their income, we think it’s more important than ever to keep doing this and we are hoping to involve food bank visitors in the garden directly.
Although we had to take restrictive measures due to COVID-19, we still carried out some essential food growing and kept our volunteer garden sessions running for as long as possible to provide an outside activity for the community and continue the maintenance of the garden.
The Garden is run by volunteers in different working groups including a steering committee, a site group, comms and fundraising teams and a diversity and inclusion group. Volunteers are also responsible for the Chickens and Bees, the Yurt which runs mental health and homeopathy clinics and the Little Gardeners group for under 5s and carers which is run by local parents.
GWG continues to work towards finding new ways to connect with our local community, increase awareness and positive environmental impact and share some of what nature offers.
