Margate High Street Community Garden

The environment

We have improved health and well-being for the neighbourhood by clearing and maintaining the area so that it is no longer a space for drug-use, anti-social behaviour or vandalism. We have started to grow plants, herbs and vegetables which are used in meals for our community and for diy natural art materials. The flora growing in the space is being documented and checked regularly and any invasive plants are being removed. We are starting to document animals although we need to make a more formal / concrete approach to how we do this.

The local economy

By collaborating with organisations such as East Kent Mind the newly formed Thanet Woodcraft Folk, we are bringing more footfall to an area of the highstreet that would otherwise be a disused / empty space, in an area of the high street where a lot of shops sit empty, and are bringing more social activity to the area.

Volunteering, jobs & education

The project has provided volunteering opportunities with East kent Mind and Thanet Woodcraft Folk. We have employed garden residents which have created connections with other local community projects such as The Windmill Garden. Studio holders, such as Eirinn Hayhow, have and continue to make proposals and plans to use the garden to grow materials for natural dyes. Students on the MA, Esme Bone and Anna Presilia, completed their summer internship through using the garden as an outdoor gallery space and curating the exhibition "Compote."

Arts, culture & heritage

The project is led by the Margate School, an independent not-for-profit liberal arts post-graduate School and creative community hub. A number of volunteers have been drawn from this community with an interest in combining the arts and the natural environment. The theme of the School is art, society, nature. The garden has been used several time to display sculpture works, and also for residents to use for collecting source material for practical use, gathering references or research, although we are still to develop permanent sculptures in the garden. East Kent Mind have created a mural from natural / found materials which will be installed in the coming weeks.

Activity, health and leisure

The garden has provided our community with space for respite, relaxation and contemplation. Regular gardening sessions (currently twice a week, although looking to become more regular) and lunches create a calm and fresh environment that has been shown to be helpful as a good way to break up a long / stressful work day. We also have volunteers from outside of TMS who benefit from the structure and social element of the garden, such as adults with learning disabilities, for whom the garden (and by extension the School) has become a safe and welcoming place, where they are able to form relationships they may otherwise find difficult to form. Workshops, such as a charcoal making workshop and natural ink making workshop, have been open to the public and have been succesful in encouraging people to the garden and teachong about using natural, sustainable materials.