Young and young-at-heart join forces to green grey Britain

Thousands of green-fingered youngsters from schools, Scout groups and youth clubs across the UK will help community gardening groups to breathe new life into dozens of unused or unloved local spaces this summer.

The young people will work alongside Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom and It’s Your Neighbourhood groups to create green havens for the community to enjoy.

Among the projects being supported are a quayside by a wooden warship in Dundee that will be brightened up with wildlife-friendly planting, the reclaiming of a fly-tipping hotspot in London and the development of an urban food forest at a hospital in Halifax.

Up to 300,000 volunteers take part in Britain in Bloom, the UK’s biggest community gardening campaign. The cross-generational projects will give the young gardeners the chance to learn new skills from seasoned gardeners and reap the many health and wellbeing and social benefits of gardening.

The projects are being supported by the RHS as part of this year’s Britain in Bloom campaign which not only recognises gardening excellence but aims to unite communities and promote environmental responsibility.

Under the banner of ‘Greening Grey Britain for Wildlife’, each project will receive around £500 worth of gardening materials, along with hands-on support and advice from RHS experts on which plants to grow, garden features to include and other tips to attract wildlife.

In order to be selected by the RHS the groups had to show that their projects will bring groups together to work in partnership and benefit both communities and wildlife in the area.

Projects receiving RHS support include:

• A deprived area near Glasgow where Scouts will help build a showpiece biodiversity garden with views over the River Clyde
• The re-development of a neglected historic herbaceous border in a Newcastle park by local primary school children
• An alleyway plagued by antisocial behaviour that links a Staffordshire pottery with the canal towpath to be transformed by primary school pupils into a welcoming place for people and wildlife
• A Yorkshire army regiment working with children of all ages on ‘transportable’ gardens

The ‘Greening Grey Britain for Wildlife’ theme aims to highlight the vital role gardens play in supporting wildlife. Even a small patch of land can provide valuable habitat for creatures to forage, nest and hide and form a ‘wildlife corridor’ to link up other green spaces.

Andrea Van Sittart, RHS Head of Community Outreach said: “The projects being supported by the RHS will bring people together from all walks of life to garden; strengthening community ties, encouraging the sharing of skills and inspiring a new generation of young gardeners.

“With vast swathes of the UK now paved over or not featuring any plants at all, each mini-green oasis will help create a home or stopping-off point for many native wildlife species.”