Seeds of engagement

A Community Garden at Moor Lane Methodist Church in Crosby planted the seeds of community engagement with their garden and their monthly attendance to the local market.

Under the summer sun, her hands just out of the soil after planting leeks, Linda Dalton recalls the project's humble origins: "Some time ago, Barbara Mason and I wanted to have a garden at the front of the church." Their initial community outreach yielded little response, but when Hayley from the New Place for New People Neighbourhood Project approached them about developing a garden at the front of the church, the timing was perfect.

Now in its fourth growing year, the community garden at Moor Lane Methodist Church in the North West England District features six raised beds, fruit trees and a repurposed boat filled with flowers – a creative solution after the original sandpit plan proved impractical. "We were gifted the boat from somebody down at the Marina, so we decided to fill it with soil and flowers," Linda explains.

While the garden does not produce enough for complete self-sufficiency, it demonstrates the possibilities of seasonal eating. "I don't buy courgettes, lettuces or beetroots in the summer because we grow enough of them," says Hayley. The harvest is shared generously – volunteers take produce home, surplus goes to the church café, passers-by and excess is offered through Facebook posts.

Once every two months, the team also goes to the local market, where they have a stand. Offering some of their excess vegetables, herbs or baby lettuces to grow at home, they engage with the local community and make new connections, such as new volunteers like Ray.

Beyond the vegetables, the project has fostered unexpected spiritual connections. Monday meditation sessions using the Methodist Church's Take Time meditations offer another layer of community engagement, with plans to develop a broader spirituality stream of activities. A couple of volunteers have previously also started attending Moor Lane Church.

The garden attracts six to eight weekly volunteers, though numbers fluctuate as people come for different seasons of their lives. Hayley, the project coordinator, notes: "Sometimes people come to us in a season, for instance, people who are struggling with mental health or people dealing with grief.”

The garden has become a catalyst for broader community engagement through seasonal events. "In autumn, we have our harvest festival with pumpkin picking and creative activities," Hayley describes. "At Christmas, we do carols around our campfire with hot chocolate and s'mores. At Easter, we do a massive Easter egg hunt – giving about 800 eggs over the day!"

Looking ahead, the team dreams of expansion – perhaps a polytunnel or cultivating connections with local food banks – but remains committed to their gentle, persistent approach. As Hayley summarises: "It's slow and steady, one bit at a time. We're here for whoever wants us to be here for them."

The Crosby garden proves that transformation does not require grand gestures. Sometimes it simply takes willing hands, a patch of earth and the patient work of growing both vegetables and community together.