Crowcroft Park Orchard Garden in Longsight
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Words from the video
“My name's Claire Biggs we are here in the Northmoor area in Longsight in Manchester. This is Crowcroft Park Orchard Garden, which is part of the Snug Project and what we've developed. The local area here… a lot of the housing stock is terraced houses, small yards, no gardens. So the need for green space, in terms of people's mental well-being [and] the possibility of doing physical activity in gardening, is really high.
The site here was originally one of the bowling greens in Crowcroft Park. It had been not really very used. The Green Spaces Fund, particularly, that was the trigger point that got us started. What we've seen – obviously since we transformed it – is we've seen a massive increase in the insects. In the wildlife. In the bird life in the area.
My main focus, in terms of wanting to be involved in something like this, is actually the community side of it. And wanting to do something that was beneficial to the community. But also helped me to meet people get to know people.”
Councillor Suzanne Richards: "It brings the community together around a joint aim. An ambition for the area. I know Claire has worked really hard to ensure that the project really reaches out and engages people who live locally and around the park.”
Child helping in the garden: "I love to come to the garden because it's very fun, enjoyable. It's very fun to find out what plants they are. The colours. It’s very nice.”
Child helping in the garden: "It's like beautiful and it's relaxing and you can also make the world a better place.”
Claire Biggs: "Nature is a levelling field and it's something that we all share. And so I've really enjoyed that in terms of bringing people together to do something together. To work together to do something that we can all be proud of. On a personal level, they're the benefits for me. And I think they're the benefits for everybody else who gets involved as well.”