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!!NEWSFLASH!! 
As we all know, Covid-19 has struck the population of the planet and we are certainly not excluded at Ford Lane Garden!

In light of this, our project deliveries will be changing. Our fabulous funders have been very sympathetic, understanding and approved our new innovative plans in how we can still work with the community during this crisis.

We will update this page with information on this and how 
local people and volunteers can still be involved in our projects.

L o c k d o w n   Nature 

As we have been in lockdown, nature has had the opportunity to make the most of less human activity 
and carried on regardless at Ford Lane Garden
Lockdown doesn't 
stop our deliveries!


From April 2020 until the foreseeable future, we have changed our hands on practical delivery to a more 'shelter at home' approach.


We have been delivering educational activity packs to local residents and volunteers so they remain in touch and part of the garden.


Thank you to Orsted, Burbo Bank, Patagonia and CAF for the support to enable us to continue our work with the local community 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

THANK YOU
Living Well Sefton 
& The Canal & Rivers Trust 
who have supported our 
Ford Lane Garden
Canoe Club!

We have received a £1920 grant from Sefton CVS to launch a brand new canoe club on the banks of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal where we are based. 
We have also recently adopted our side of the canal with CRT and promise to look after it for our canoe launches!

This new venture will enable local people to experience the canal environment in a way they may not have had the chance to before. 

We will be helping to look after the quality of the water, make homes for canal wildlife and keeping the canal clean and litter free.
2020 Volunteer work dates at Ford Lane Garden:

  • Saturday 15th February 12-4pm    Gardening and plot tidy up
  • Friday 27th March 12-4pm    Gardening and seed sowing
  • Tuesday 7th April 12-4pm   Gardening and seed sowing
  • Saturday 2nd May 12-4pm    Gardening, seed sowing and planting
  • Saturday 16th May 12-4pm   Gardening, seed sowing and planting  /  Beekeeping lesson 1-2pm
  • Friday 5th June 12-4pm   Gardening, seed sowing and planting  /  Beekeeping lesson 1-3pm
  • Saturday 20th June 12-4pm   Gardening and planting  /   Beekeeping lesson 1-2pm
  • Saturday 25th July 12-4pm   Gardening and planting
  • Saturday 15th August 12-4pm  Gardening and planting  /  Beekeeping lesson 1-2pm

All welcome  /  All free  /  Refreshments provided  /  Composting toilet on site  /  Contact us for more details
We are pleased to announce that we have been funded 
$5000 from Patagonia to deliver 
Plan Bee - A 2020 Vision in Beekeeping
This will enable us to deliver beekeeping to all ages in a very 
visually creative and exciting new way 
Ford Lane Garden produces the Beekeepers of the Future!
Through 2020, we will be continuing our partnership with Blackburne House to deliver accredited beekeeping courses from our training apiary. 

Over the last 2 years, we've taught students at local SEND schools, Rowan Park & Rowan High. We'll continue teaching more schools in the area as well as youth groups such as YKids.
Plan Bee - a 2020 Vision - Community Beekeeping in Sefton
We are buzing to be awarded £5000 from Orsted's Burbo Bank fund to deliver beekeeping activities for all ages!

We currently work with Blackburne House to deliver free accredited training to 14-24 year olds and this fund will support the beekeeping learning for those outside of that age range.

We have just purchased a long national hive from Hyde Hives. This hive is longer as opposed to being taller and can therefore be checked by those who are not as tall or not as able to work with bigger or heavier hive parts.

We will be delivering a host of beekeeping days for all ages throughout spring and summer. Contact us for more details. 

The funding allows us to plant for local pollinators and also to create bespoke educational signage for our training apiary.


Big  🙏 to The Greggs Foundation to develop a Childrens Healing Garden 

We received £1000 to develop a Childrens Healing Garden made up of herbs and edibles. 
It will be built and planted by local students from Rowan Park and Rowan High School. 

We will be working with 
The Gateway Collective to create recipe cards with the students using ingredients that we have grown in the healing garden!
MRWA Funding to support Garden Activities!
We have been awarded £8000 from MWRA and Veolia to deliver recycling and upcycling activities in the garden and local area!

The aim of the porject is to reduce what we put into our bins which will end up in landfill and make something useful that we can use over and over again.

For example, making planters for spring and summer bulbs out of old bottles, making a pencil case from an old shirt or curtain, repurposing old garden furniture into something we can use at Ford Lane Garden for our volunteers to relax on!

They types of materials we will be recycling, upcycling and repurposing/repairing are:

  • Garden furniture (like tables and chairs)
  • Garden waste (weeds, fruit and veg scraps, branches, twigs)
  • Card and paper 
  • Glass and plastic (like bottles, old window panes, food containers)
  • Reclaimed wood (like old doors, pallets, scrap pieces)
  • Material (like old clothes, curtains, duvets)
So far, we have:
  • Composted over 4t of garden waste
  • Upcycled and repurposed 1.5t of fabric
  • Repaired and made useful things out of 2t of wood
  • Created garden art using 1t of plastic and glass
  • Installed a composting toilet and have made 1/4t of waste into wildflower garden soil
  • Enabled 11 students to gain their Lantra Level 1 in Beekeeping
We will be continuing our work to reduce, recycle and repair through to spring 2019. Contact us if you would like to know more about what we do.

Definitions:

RECYCLE  (verb) 
Convert (waste) into reusable material

UPCYCLE  (verb)
Reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original

REPURPOSE (verb)
Adapt for use in a different purpose

REPAIR (verb)
Restore (something damaged, faulty, or worn) to a good condition

WINNERS!

BREAKING NEWS!! 

We have been awarded 1st place of £12k to design, build and plant the community garden!

With the funding, we will be creating and repairing raised beds, planting a wide variety of fruit and vegetable seeds and plants, new tools, installing beehives and putting garden furniture in place.

We need your help to design and build the furniture from scratch, put together the beehives and get bees in their new homes and help us sow the seeds and plant fruit bushes and vegetable plants.

Work will start from March 2017 - the perfect time to do something new and get fit and active over spring and summer! 

Our Tesco funding means we will be installing 3 beehives ready for spring 2017. During the summer, the bees will forage locally to make honey which is healthy and better for us. If you suffer from hayfever, a dose of L21 honey will work wonders! Will also make balms made from our own honey and beeswax!

We have lovely views of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal where we enjoy some peace just watching Rimrose Valley change in colour through the year and see the different birds, water voles, bees and many more insects along the way. 

Our volunteers make the garden tick and without them we would have no garden. From digging, sowing seeds, planting, watering, weeding, harvesting the crop and cooking our produce - there are a lot of different activities on offer!
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