Nurturing an inclusive green space for the local community
About Sunnyside Community Gardens
Sunnyside Community Gardens is a charity that runs and manages a small green space in a built-up area of north London. The organisation has been gardening at Sunnyside for over 40 years. The group’s work is about so much more than just gardening and plants. They work to provide the local community with a safe and inclusive environment to socialise, relax, and volunteer.
How does Sunnyside Community Gardens make a difference?
Sunnyside Community Gardens is a ‘massive back garden for local people to share’. The gardens provide green space for local residents, many of whom live in flats on the neighbouring estates. Unusually for a community garden, Sunnyside remains open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Sunnyside Community Gardens is a ‘massive back garden for local people to share’.
The community garden’s multifaceted importance to the local community is clear. Located in Archway, north London, they provide a vital patch of green space in Islington, a borough with a low level of publicly accessible green space. In recognition of this, the Gardens have been designated a site of importance for nature conservation.
The Gardens have been designated a site of importance for nature conservation.
The gardens include a child-friendly enclosed ‘cottage garden’ for families to sit in and enjoy, safely away from roads. The group values the impact that green space can have on health and wellbeing and has a long history of providing therapeutic horticulture for people with disabilities or recovering from illness.
Sunnyside provides an important social space for the local community to unite. Since COVID-19, many more people have started visiting and volunteering at Sunnyside. Before the pandemic, a typical day would see an average of seven volunteers; this has now increased to eleven. Regular activities for volunteers include gardening, cooking, admin and maintenance of the garden.
Since COVID-19, many more people have started visiting and volunteering at Sunnyside.
Due to funding cuts, there are increasingly limited support services available for residents who are searching for a sense of community. Sunnyside Community Gardens has helped to fill this gap, providing an essential space for volunteers and visitors alike.
How did they do it?
Following a campaign by local people in 1977, Sunnyside Community Gardens was formed to provide residents with better access to nature and green space. They were first opened to the public in July 1978. Since then, the gardens have been maintained by a dedicated team of volunteers. The volunteers are supported by 2.2 paid full-time equivalent staff; a team of four people working part-time. This includes three skilled community gardeners who work to ensure volunteers are safe, included, and happy. The gardens have a manager, as well as a development officer who manages administration and fundraising bids.
They recently secured a 50-year lease on the land from the council at a peppercorn rent.
Sunnyside Community Gardens works closely with Islington Council. Recently, they secured a 50-year lease on the land from the council at a peppercorn rent. Sunnyside also looks after the adjacent Noel-Baker Peace Garden on behalf of the local council. They have received additional funding and support via the council, including funding from their community chest grants programme to help support Sunnyside’s ‘Cook and Grown’ project. The project enables residents with higher support needs to get involved with growing and cooking produce from the community vegetable garden.
One major area of work for Sunnyside Community Garden is their fundraising campaign for a new community building, after the previous building was twice victim to arson (most recently in 2013). The ambition is to have a fully accessible and environmentally sustainable space that would allow volunteers to stay warm and dry while at the gardens and provide a space to host community events.
Using funds from the council’s Section 106 agreements, they have been able to get through the pre-planning application stage. They are currently aiming to fundraise £5,000 through the local community via GoFundMe, with the rest of the £365,000 target being raised through grants from charitable trusts.
What would help unlock Sunnyside Community Garden’s potential?
- Access to funding is vital for community organisations, as it allows for the provision of resources and equipment and facilitates the hiring of staff. The current funding regime has become increasingly competitive, and the entire process is very time-intensive. Additionally, funding bodies often overlook the success of existing community projects with a proven track record in favour of new ideas.
- A greater appreciation for the importance of community building and the role that organisations, such as Sunnyside Community Gardens, play in creating space for the local community to come together.
- Staff are fundamental to making an organisation as inclusive as possible. For Sunnyside, they contribute invaluable work, including administration and fundraising, gardening, and ensuring that all volunteers are safe and happy.
Advice for other community projects
- If you’re interested in starting a community garden or farm, get involved with the charity Social Farms and Gardens.
- Talk to people and check out what other similar groups are doing.
- Take the time to consider the community aspects of your work, such as providing food and refreshments.
- Community gardens should be all about the people, and less about the plants.
