OPEN DAY 2018

Any trustee worth their runner beans should always ask the question 'why are we doing this?' And so Forest Garden secretary and regular volunteer Duncan quite rightly asked – what is it we want from our annual open day?

 

It's not to make money, if it wasn't for the generous grant from Homity Trust it would cost us to put on the event but we do hope new visitors will see the value in our work and support us financially.

It's not just about numbers, although 150 came through the gates and about the same number of pizzas flew out of our clay oven.

For those with learning disabilities that volunteer regularly it is a chance to show their friends and families what they get up too. For some it is tinged with sadness. The Cheesman family have always been massive supporters of the project and Matthew Cheesman was a much loved regular volunteer who died suddenly a few months back. It affected everyone at the garden and we are busy working on 'Matthew's Corner' to remember him.

Another volunteer brought up his family. Since working with us, he's lost weight, been able to cut down on his medication and most importantly make new friends.

We also had seven students from Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) who come to the project on Thursdays while Pat and Carly work with them and other pupils at BACA other days of the week. They showed off the skills they had learnt, some put on the bee suits and checked out the hives, and of all of them made pizzas – and while people hunted for wildlife one used his camouflage skills to hide in a big apple tree and dangle a giant rubber beetle down to startled passers by! A group of adults who were failing to light a fire using natural techniques were shown how too by a Year 7 pupil in one strike. These pupils struggle at school and yet are thriving in an outdoor classroom environment. One lad in particular has benefited from funding we have received from the Fonthill Foundation which has enabled us to offer 1-1 booster sessions. Working a couple of hours extra with Pat each week has enabled him to pass his level one in Woodland Skills. We also had lots of families with younger children at Moulsecoomb Primary, familiar with us from our work at the school and the visits to the garden. 

Another former pupil is now working for Spiral Sussex. We have been working with her family for years at Moulsecoomb Primary and BACA and she has helped Carly cooking crew food at festivals but it has been her work at the garden where she realised she has real rapport working with adults with learning disabilities which has led her to paid work.

We also had our first Bug Off with Rachel Bicker, the biodiversity consultant at Gatwick and Beth Nicholls from Team Pollinate a Sussex University project collecting data on pollinators in the city. They worked with visitors and scoured the garden and ponds finding 96 different species all entered into iRecord website. Both Rachel and Beth are regular visitors to the project and have tapped into our volunteers passion for wildlife. We will be using their expertise to see how we can increase wildlife habitats including a new bee and butterfly bank we will create with Moulsecoomb Primary school as part of our partnership with Moulsecoomb train station. 

While Carly's pizzas are always popular Jo's cafe was doing a roaring trade of home made sweet and savoury snacks made and served by our volunteers. We also held our first raffle thanks to support from The Grand, Brighton Open Air Theatre, Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, M&S, a nail manicure, an amazing home-made vegetable themed cake and Brighton and Hove Buses, with access officer Victoria Garcia and instructor Kim popping up to the garden.

 

So what is the open day for? Well it's not just a window into our work but an opportunity for the wide variety of people who come to the garden to feel part of a community and proud of the work they do.

* Why not become a Friend of the Forest Garden and make a regular monthly donation ? 

OPEN DAY FRIDAY 20TH JULY

Come and see what we get up at our next open day

MATTHEW CHEESMAN

Matthew Cheesman 1968-2018 

We are sorry to announce the passing of Matthew Cheesman. 

Matthew had been coming to the garden every Friday for seven years. With his big smile and cheerful disposition, Matthew was a joy to have around. He was a very good gardener and he loved to cook – as was also partial to the odd biscuit that we have with our endless cups of tea,

Rushing excitedly up the hill asking what jobs we had to do today he was also very canny. The other month he said he wasn't feeling very well – this of course had nothing to do with the massive pile of woodchips that had just been delivered, ready to be pushed up the hill! 

We like to socialise at the garden and Matthew was really content when after an event we would all sit round the fire with a beer or when we all went to the Bevy Pub for a pint. Him and Pat once got a sharing platter at the Bevy, unfortunately for Pat the only thing Matthew wanted to share was one onion ring. He also had grand plans for turning our cabin into a bachelor pad, with a comfy sofa, stereo and TV. 

Matthew loved to cook with Carly and Jo but could come back with some interesting cooking impliments. One time when he was asked to go and get a bowl but he came back half hour later with a golf club ! 

He got on really well with people, and was a great ambassador for the project often helping show visitors around. 

Everyone at the garden has been saying that its not the same without him so later this year we will be creating 'Matthews corner' with his own bench and a fruit tree. We are working on finding a chocolate biscuit bush to grow next to it 

So thank you Matthew for everything you brought to the garden – it just isn't the same without you.

LOOKING BACK 2017

Everyone who has visited the garden this year has commented on how great it is looking, and that's thanks to all our volunteers. Infact, we are often so busy with volunteers on our workdays that its hard to find enough jobs for everyone to do! It no doubt helps that Carly and Jo cook up such fantastic food at lunchtimes so many of our guests leave with a full belly and a great impression. From councillors and MPs to chief executives and funders to one woman who saw an article in The Guardian about us and came down from Edinburgh to see what we get up to.

We work with a host of disability charities and have really strengthened our work with St.Johns College and are looking to move students onto further training and work placements. One mum whose son regularly attends told us " L loves going and his longest sentences are all about Moulsecoomb - we've seen so much development and growth in him since he's been able to come and spend time with you, it's brilliant.' We also continue to offer placements to university students as part of their community module. 

 

We like our volunteers to be fully involved and in the past year we have held two user group meetings where we listen to how we could improve what we do. One ended up with a fish n chip supper at Buddies, our AGM included curry and karaoke and our Christmas Party had the usual feast around the fire! We have improved access, rebuilt our cooking area thanks to funding from East Brighton Trust, and put in a water harvesting system while Daisy got everyone working on a stunning new herb garden and drought resistant wildflower bed. Thanks to Peoples Postcode Lottery we now have funds to provide off-grid heat and lighting for the cabin and a new seating, while the Co-op have funded a new polytunnel and Awards for All funding will enable us to build a sensory garden. Brighton and Hove City Council meanwhile helped us with our core costs and Baily Thomas and Sussex Community Foundation help fund the cooking, while Brighton and Hove Food Partnership continue to support our work. 

It was great to be chosen as one of the Mayors 27 charities. Brighton and Hove Mayor Pete West broke records for the number of events he attended and the amount of money he raised. He even joined the litter-pick we organised with Brighton University and Santander and came along to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch we held in January, where we spotted a record 15 different species with the help of local ecologist Rachel Bicker. We also worked with Team Pollinate from the University of Sussex to record pollinating insects that use the garden. 

While our workdays continue to thrive it's not all been good news.

Unfortunately the increasing pressure on school budgets has meant we have lost around 70% of our school work with pupils. This is not only frustrating for all the work built up by Pat and Phil but also extremely worrying when it is needed more than ever for an increasing number of pupils. As one school head teacher told us "Patcham House has used the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden Project for the past 7 years. The nurturing and adaptable approach of the whole project team have improved the outcomes of some of our most vulnerable and challenging pupils, giving them a space to grow and discover new skills. Two of our pupils who attended the project to undertake extended work experience, both learnt and developed construction skills, which ensured they secured an appropriate post 16 pathway at college. A more recent pupil, who is terrified of failure and refuses to sit any tests or exams, has managed to complete their Bushcraft qualification, and has been able to view this as a stepping stone to further accreditation and experiencing success. Having worked in special education for the last 20 years, the Forest Garden project is exactly the sort of project that is needed to support young people as part of their curriculum.” 

One of the pupils who recently completed his OCN Level 1 with us said 'I've learnt life skills to take into jobs, and learnt about trees, fruits and what is edible. It's been fun getting to know people and what it's like working together as a group. I enjoyed being treated as an adult and Pat suggests ideas and asks us to make grown up choices which shows trust. We have proper intelligent conversations.'

We are now looking for alternative funding for this vital work with pupils to not just continue but expand. If you can help please let us know! 

Thanks to funding from The Pebble Trust we once again ran a summer scheme for Moulsecoomb children to have fun learning about bushcraft, play games in the woods and of course make pizzas in our clay oven. We continue to run the lunchtime gardening club at Moulsecoomb Primary and have helped build a new garden space for pupils needing respite, which has a heated greenhouse and hotbox where we grew so many plants we sold them in the playground and at The Bevy to raise funds for seed compost. Pupils from the school also regularly visit us - as part of a Little Green Pig literacy project while Hijack Children Festival organised a Halloween event using materials from the garden to help explain the origins of the festival. Reception and Year 1 planted garlic and learnt about animal skins and fire while Pat went foraging in the schools award winning grounds with children to find plants that could be made into shampoo as part of the Science Festival.

Pat Beach and Carly North continue to work at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy one day a week delivering gardening, woodcraft and cooking sessions and pupils come to the project on Thursdays, all part of the schools alternative provision strategy. 

As well as hosting groups on our workdays like Concordia International Volunteers, Youth Employability Team, Brighton MIND eco-therapy, and BEDES,  lots happens when we are not open to the public. Gladrags held their AGM, Woodchips, a young Woodcraft group came up after school in the summer, Sensing Friends, an organisation for blind and partially sighted youngsters hold regular activities at the garden, and we recently hosted The Wild Network a group that want to encourage youngsters to get out and enjoy nature more. We've also been to the Theatre Royal for their summer ‘Forest!’ festival, the Mayors Parlour and i360 to promote our work while our bumper rhubarb crop fed the old folk at the Bevy's seniors club. Our annual open day run by volunteers and pupils was another roaring success with over 150 coming to see what we get up to. 

So if you've never been to the garden why not pop up one Friday lunchtime for a tour and some food, or come to our open day in July. And if you want to support us financially why not use us as a venue for your event or make a monthly donation and become a Friend of the Forest Garden, so we can continue to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. 

 

 

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF THE FOREST GARDEN

Our work doesn't stop at the allotment gates but carries on every day of the week across Moulsecoomb and beyond.

Last week we helped forage for ingredients to make home made shampoo at Moulsecoomb Primary and the Bevy community pub for an event run by House of Cultural Curiosity as part of the British Science Festival.

We entered fruit and veg, cakes and jams at the Bevy garden show and cooked a Harvest Feast at Moulsecoomb Primary while Stephan from Brighton Permaculture Trust got children to squash the apples and pears grown and harvested by the children at the school to turn into juice.

Now in its 8^th year, the Harvest Feast has become part of the school calendar with children serving up the food for parents and carers at the end of the school day.

We ran our first lunchtime gardening club of the new academic year with Year 4 discovering a newt, a frog, some anemic carrots, coriander seed and slug eggs which the children fed to grateful chickens – all while harvesting a bed of garlic. The chickens eggs go to the breakfast club (but not the slug eggs).

The after school club made a pasta dish using yellow courgettes from the school and our giant tomatoes – or zombie tomatoes as the children named them - which were grown by pupils in the heated greenhouse. Carly also uses the veg for the family cooking club she runs.

At the Bevy we help look after the edible pub garden and a lot of the fruit and veg was used by Friday Friends to make jams and pickles to raise money for their seniors Christmas party – as well winning lots of prizes in the garden show. Apples from the school also went to the Friday Friends for their puddings while the rest where taken by the Permaculture Trust to their juicing shed at Stanmer Park.

While Carly was teaching pupils to cook at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy Pat was delivering lessons that included tool safety and techniques, microcosm of wood land ecology using magnification and microscopes, horticulture and the hidden language of trees!

Over the weekend Pat also ran another session at the garden and in the woods with Sensing Friends – a group that works on building stronger more meaningful friendships between blind, partially sighted and sighted youngsters.

This is on top of welcoming over 60 people a week to our workdays including organisations that work with adults with learning disabilities such as St.Johns College, Autism Sussex, Outlook House and Brighton Mencap.

And after such a busy week, it's always good to sit round the table with everyone and eat some of the amazing food that is cooked up at the garden every week 

* Support what we do? Then why not become a Friend of the Forest Garden with a monthly standing order. We'll make sure you get extra toppings on your pizza.

OPEN DAY 2017

The sun shone, the bees buzzed, the pizzas flew out of the oven and the cakes into people’s grateful mouths! What a fantastic open day with nearly 200 people visiting; old friends and new from all walks of life including Kayla Ente from Bhesco, Rich Haworth from The Living Coast and blogger Ian Chisnall from Ashdown Audio Visual

Pupils from Patcham House, Varndean and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy showed off the skills they've learnt. One lad who’s been excluded from mainstream school worked his socks off helping Carly with the pizza oven. His brilliant attitude reinforcing our view that not everyone learns best in a classroom environment. 

 pizza production line

learning to make sparks

With disability services being decimated we welcomed St. Johns College and Spiral as well as parents and carers of some of our volunteers; volunteers who looked after the gate, showed people round and helped in our pop-up cafe. 

 your names not down, your not coming in

Ecologist Rachel Bicker hunted for bees and pond-dipped with children – and even let past Mayor Pete West have a go with her butterfly nets. Sonny showed people our beehives, while Moulsecoomb Primary's smoothie bike swirled into action making healthy fruit drinks for everyone. 

 

At the end of the day, we had a celebratory drink round the fire to thank everyone for all their hard work.

Thanks to Brighton and Hove Food Partnership for funding the open day.

* Support what we do? Then why not become a Friend of the Forest Garden with a monthly standing order. We'll make sure you get extra toppings on your pizza. 

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITY

As a governor at Moulsecoomb Primary School for over a decade I’ve seen the chipping away of school budgets. It's got to the point where it is national news; with all headteachers complaining that they haven't got enough money to deliver the education that all our children deserve. At our school we have lost nearly £200,000 in the last four years – with another £210,000 to follow.

I was invited to help out at Moulsecoomb Primary when former head, Mr Davies, was transforming the school grounds. He strongly believed that the outdoor environment was as powerful a way of teaching children as inside the classroom. The school have won countless awards whilst giving Moulsecoomb pupils an amazing space to learn and have fun. His legacy continues and thanks to a change in the history curriculum, primary schools from all over Sussex are now paying to come to the school for the day to learn about pre-history.

But these grounds and ageing school buildings cost money. We are also in an area where thousands of students reside in what were once family homes, which means less pupils for our school and so less money. So what do we get rid of? Community worker who is worth her weight in gold finding grants for all the extras that happen in the school, the family worker and support staff who help children in and out of the classroom. Teachers? After school clubs? Trips?

For the past couple of years governors and staff have been working on ways to not just shout about the school's work to encourage more parents to choose Moulsecoomb Primary, but also to help plug some of these funding gaps. Recently East Brighton Trust agreed to give £10,000 to the school every year for three years. This 'enrichment' grant will help support activities like the breakfast club, after school club, trips and paying for organisations to visit us. These are some of the activities that enrich our pupils education and give them a better start in life. Last week building firm Rivers Birtwell came in for a week and transformed our tired old computer room. Little Green Pig have run free story telling workshops, Brighton and Hove Food Partnership run cooking demonstrations and Brighton University painted a mural in our Reading zone. 

 
Rivers Birtwell, Mr.Sutton and children in our freshly decorated computer room

Our parents group PAGE continue to fundraise and in the past few years have bought books for the whole school, outside play equipment, drums for the Samba band, had the hall painted and decked out with new curtains and had an outside building put up to remember Mr.Davies. Parents also help with everything from fixing the flat tyres on the wheelbarrows to taking professional photos for our website. We had an anonymous donation so a year six class could go ice-skating, while the other year six class were treated to the i360 and free lunch - thanks to a generous offer from The New Club restaurant along the seafront. We've had grants from British Science Association to run Science Week events, National Lottery Awards for All to run cooking clubs for children and parents and to buy new computer equipment, and Heritage Lottery Funding to help maintain our unique houses as well as free rail tickets for art week winners to visit galleries in London. 

Summer fayre in our stunning school grounds

We're lucky to be so close to the AMEX stadium and Albion in the Community seem to be in the school everyday. Promotion to the Premier League will be even better! We are also lucky to have become one of Sustrans flagship bike schools with children learning to fix bikes, cycle and of course making fruity drinks from our very own smoothie bike. It was parents, staff and some pupils who built our bike pump track. 

Painting with crushed up charcoal during Science Week

We look for companies to sign up to Team Building days to help with painting or maintaining the garden and every year Brighton College students come and do a days volunteering while Concordia volunteers spend two weeks in the school every summer voluntering.

Thanks to a number of grants from Peoples HealthTrust, Sussex Community Foundation and Southover Manor Trust we've been slowly transforming the old tarmac playground behind the Learning Mentors building. It now has a pond, raised beds and a heated greenhouse and hotbox where we have just sown what surely must be the first ever melons grown in the school as well as tomatoes, peppers and squashes. 

Seed sowing Sweet Banana peppers!

So as you can see, we work hard to bring in money and resources that the school can't afford – and that don't come from the main schools budget.

I don't want the school leadership team worrying about broken toilets and not being able to afford the best teachers but concentrating on making sure pupils get the education they deserve. So if you think you have something to offer pop in and see Lucy or Lana or me – with more cuts around the corner our school needs parents to get involved more than ever.

Warren Carter

Moulsecoomb Primary School governor/parent

* Save our Schools have organised a meeting this Thursday 30th March to organise against these education cuts https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/save-our-schools-launch-party-tickets-33044491965