Rev’d Angela Hughes has been in touch with an incredible tale of mission, partnership and invitation from the church at Stainbeck. This is what she said…………..
“The land at the edge of Stainbeck’s car park and round the back of the church buildings is unregistered land. For many years some of us had a dream that we could use this land and re-order it to be an asset for the church. But sadly, resources of money and people held us back. As a consequence it remained overgrown, a prime spot for fly tipping and a blot on the landscape.
But no longer! This is a good story – and good stories need to be shared!
The change began before Covid with Team Beckhills, the residents’ group from our local estate. This group, with the support of Leeds Citizens and Stainbeck Church, successfully secured support from the Council for new steps and lighting for the estate. It was a great job and well done. https://www.citizensuk.org
What next? Well following the pandemic ‘litter’ was the main cry and clean ups began (yet again!) … and Team Beckhills morphed into My Community United, a new broader group of residents wanting to tidy up the area.
Alongside this, InterACT Church and Community Partnership (https://interact.uk.net/) obtained an ABCD (Asset Based Community Development) Grant. InterACT is a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation), a partnership of four local churches.
These two things came together when one of the Beckhill residents became increasingly involved with a local Incredible Edible Group https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk based in Meanwood.
Incredible Edible’s vision is to create kind, confident and connected communities through the power of food, with an amazing strapline line “If you eat, you’re in!”
As we talked about community assets, about what resources we already had in the area, this resident, now backed by others, was pleased to talk more positively about what is POSSIBLE and not what’s wrong.
And so in no time at all, many local residents have been the driving force behind setting up the garden, using their knowledge and skills and enthusiasm to get things going. Amazing!
This group has used funding that we hold as part of our ABCD work that residents can “apply” for, as well as funding from other sources. They have bought the various planters, seeds and soil. We’ve received lots of freebies (InterACT has many partnership connections), mostly in the form of labour and wood chippings, but more importantly, the activity has connected with other people on and off the estate who want to be part of this initiative. As they work, people walk by, strike up conversations, harvest food and share stories.
The latest additions are a Vegetable Cupboard donated by ‘Feed Leeds’. (https://feedleeds.org) and some solid digging and hard physical work from the ‘Goodgym’ Group in Leeds. https://www.goodgym.org/
It’s not a forgotten patch any more!
Work on the garden continues almost daily – different people taking on different tasks such as watering on a regular basis.
Also, community action days have been a great way to bring larger groups of people together. These have been held in school holidays to allow children to get involved. There are lots of budding gardeners and diggers out there!
But that is not all as Litter Free Leeds have been involved too. They describe themselves in this way: Litter Free Leeds brings communities, groups and individuals together to be good role models of what can be achieved when we all work together (https://litterfreeleeds.co.uk).
So, whilst some dig and plant, some walk the estate and pick litter. As a church Stainbeck, with its local partner churches (InterACT), thank, chat, encourage, share and invite. And I reflect that as churches, here for the long-term, knowing our area, good at listening, we are in an ideal situation to spot where the energy lies and link people together.
We can do so much more together. May we be open to it.”
Cover image – Pixabay