"For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations" Isaiah 61:11
Historically the north side of the Church (Blenheim Grove) would have been a bustling thoroughfare lined with terraced houses, where the park now stands, the main door of the Vicarage and the entrance to the Tennant Hall (Church Hall).
Sadly in the regeneration of the area and the demolition of the terraced housing towards Little London and the selling off of the Vicarage and Tennant Hall, this side of the church between the Tower and Sacristy / Cloister, had become an area that was out of sight and out of mind, abandoned and overgrown with briars climbing the tower, unwanted self seeding of trees that damage the fabric of our building and masses of unwanted weeds. This desolation did little to reduce the appearance that the Church was closed and abandoned!
As as the Church community has become strengthened in numbers and new energy, we have been able to reach out to areas that have been previously neglected, initiating new projects for the community and developing our mission of Social Outreach and also give a visible presence to the Community that we serve that our Church is actually open, alive and 'growing'!
Thanks to the efforts, foresight and tenacity of Rev Warwick, he has initiated the development of our Community Garden, to provide food for those in need, opportunity for people to experience the health benefits that gardening can provide to body, soul and spirit through engaging with the Earth, as well as of course of being good stewards to the land that we have been endowed with.
Whilst the initial efforts may appear humble, enormous behind the scenes great work has been taking place, from designing a sustainable garden and use for our land, finding volunteers and engaging Community Partners (The Inter-faith Vegan Alliance, Foundation, Leeds Permaculture Design Course, Caring Together in Woodhouse and Little London, Feed Leeds, Leeds City Council, Leeds Student Medical Practice, Voluntary Action Leeds, local residents and All Souls' Church Council) to the initial clean up.
Sadly we don't have pictures to show the state this area was in, however the pictures below illustrate the work in progress and more importantly the growth and first offerings from our Community Garden.
In September 2016 Rev Warwick and his wife harvested beans, courgettes, squash and other vegetables and took them to Saint Martins Soup Kitchen to be made into soup for the hungry. A monumental moment for our Community Garden.
We look forward to next year and seeing the growth of this project and hopefully the harvest being used in our own Soup Kitchen!
Sadly in the regeneration of the area and the demolition of the terraced housing towards Little London and the selling off of the Vicarage and Tennant Hall, this side of the church between the Tower and Sacristy / Cloister, had become an area that was out of sight and out of mind, abandoned and overgrown with briars climbing the tower, unwanted self seeding of trees that damage the fabric of our building and masses of unwanted weeds. This desolation did little to reduce the appearance that the Church was closed and abandoned!
As as the Church community has become strengthened in numbers and new energy, we have been able to reach out to areas that have been previously neglected, initiating new projects for the community and developing our mission of Social Outreach and also give a visible presence to the Community that we serve that our Church is actually open, alive and 'growing'!
Thanks to the efforts, foresight and tenacity of Rev Warwick, he has initiated the development of our Community Garden, to provide food for those in need, opportunity for people to experience the health benefits that gardening can provide to body, soul and spirit through engaging with the Earth, as well as of course of being good stewards to the land that we have been endowed with.
Whilst the initial efforts may appear humble, enormous behind the scenes great work has been taking place, from designing a sustainable garden and use for our land, finding volunteers and engaging Community Partners (The Inter-faith Vegan Alliance, Foundation, Leeds Permaculture Design Course, Caring Together in Woodhouse and Little London, Feed Leeds, Leeds City Council, Leeds Student Medical Practice, Voluntary Action Leeds, local residents and All Souls' Church Council) to the initial clean up.
Sadly we don't have pictures to show the state this area was in, however the pictures below illustrate the work in progress and more importantly the growth and first offerings from our Community Garden.
In September 2016 Rev Warwick and his wife harvested beans, courgettes, squash and other vegetables and took them to Saint Martins Soup Kitchen to be made into soup for the hungry. A monumental moment for our Community Garden.
We look forward to next year and seeing the growth of this project and hopefully the harvest being used in our own Soup Kitchen!