Growing, Cooking and Eating in 2015!

2015 was the year of Bristol Green Capital, a European award that celebrated our green city, inspiring us to be more green!

Trinity Community Arts got a year of funding from Bristol 2015 (Quartet) to run the "Grow it, Cook it, Eat it!" project. We wanted to get local residents of all ages excited about growing, cooking and enjoying healthy food together!

Our ideas were also supported by the Easton and Lawrence Hill Neighborhood Wellbeing Grant, to expand on our offer of sessions and activities exploring green themes under our "Garden to Tummy" project.

Our Project Coordinator Helen Winstanley, led on activities from March to December, involving 780 participants (including volunteers) from the local community, schools and target groups in a range of permaculture activities and events at The Trinity Centre, Garden and Arts West Side.

This year we finally had the capacity to explore city-wide partnerships and make the most of existing partnerships and links. We worked with residents from St Judes, SPAN (Single Parents Action Network) and early years, something we have not done before, and showed parents and teachers a green space for their children to play in and practical skills for all of them. Helen was also able to play an active part in the Bristol 2015 programme, attending events, training, carrying out meetings and networking with other partner groups, identifying opportunities for collaboration and joint delivery of activities.

Throughout the year, we explored green and seasonal themes suggested by you all, over 60 sessions including: Foraging Walks, Holiday Lunch Clubs, Stay & Play sessions, Cob Building, Spoon Carving, Willow Weaving, Chutney Making, Raw Food workshops as well as Monthly Community Days.

All of our sessions, as usual, were free but we welcomed small donations from participants, that helped us take our projects even further.

Trinity was also able to support the Community Garden group in their quest to fund, develop and deliver new gardening and skill based weekly sessions for all ages and abilities, funded by Awards for All and The People's Health Trust. We also enable the Wild Walks for Well-being group to grow in numbers and activities.

It's also worth mentioning that May saw our busiest Garden Party ever!

We finished our growing season with a Harvest Celebration in November, were 250 participants from all our projects, their families and friends joined a range of activities in our Garden, from foraging walk to apple pressing and pizza making in our new cob oven.

Thank you all for taking part in our Garden projects and events this year! We will continue sharing learning opportunities, projects and ideas with you to help us create a happier, more sustainable living in Bristol in 2016. Watch this space!