'It celebrates community spirit and that nature connection that is really important to people': Seeds of Hope gardening festival marks Shibden Park centenary

Among the events taking place to mark Shibden Park’s centenary is a gardening festival celebrating the community of Calderdale. Laura Reid finds out more.

When Calderdale marked its 50th year of being a borough in 2024, a programme of events was developed to celebrate the area’s rich history, landscapes and creative communities.

That year of culture has long-since ended but the legacy of CultureDale continues, a platform now for championing creativity and collaboration in the West Yorkshire town of Halifax and its surrounding areas. Seeds of Hope is a project that has grown out of that legacy, a festival building on Calderdale’s heritage of growers and gardens and celebrating its green spaces and community spirit. The festival centres on ten new micro show gardens which have been created by local schools and community groups for the centenary of Halifax’s Shibden Park and are on display in a trail through the parkland until August 16.

Joanna Fullman, cultural programme manager for Culturedale at Calderdale Council, says the idea grew out of feedback during the year of culture. "We spoke to people on a weekly basis about what kind of things they'd like to see happen in Calderdale in the future. And one of the key themes that kept coming out with different communities was this idea of nature-based activity, and being in outdoor spaces…Similar to how the year of culture was celebrating 50 years of Calderdale, Shibden Park has a significant anniversary this year, because it’s 100 years of being a public park. So we came up with this idea of doing a nature-based gardening project.”

Lisa Roberts, community engagement officer for Culturedale, identified and approached the area’s existing community growers and gardeners – and ten groups were commissioned to create the Seeds of Hope show gardens, in a partnership between Calderdale Council and UNESCO Associated Schools Network UK, funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Seasons of Culture scheme, Community Foundation for Calderdale, Northern and the Community Rail Partnership.

The Outback Community Garden and Kitchen, based in Halifax, is one of the groups that has been involved. The service brings people together to learn new skills such as gardening, growing food, cooking and beekeeping, in order to promote wellbeing, reduce food insecurity, and create opportunities for people to connect with nature and each other. Volunteers have tried to replicate that ethos in the Seeds of Hope show garden, a mini version of The Outback showcasing edible planting, a miniature pop-up fruit and veg shop, pollinator-friendly features and creative elements made from reclaimed materials.

Sarah Waddington, who is based at the garden, part of the Halifax Opportunities Trust, says: “We’re really proud of The Outback garden and what we’ve done in creating a beautiful, accessible, inclusive and welcoming space in central Halifax and this Seeds of Hope project is an opportunity for us to showcase what we do further afield…We hope the legacy will be that more people will know about us… and we also hope we inspire people to have a real love of nature and learn more about gardening.”

Also exhibiting a garden is Halifax’s St Augustine’s Centre, a charity which specialises in supporting refugees and people seeking asylum. The centre garden is a safe haven where people can reconnect with nature and experience peace and safety – and the Seeds of Hope design is inspired by similar themes of safety, belonging and journey. Gardener Lisa Fieldhouse says centre members have had a large input into the content of the garden.

“We have selected plants that represent countries people have come from and memories from people’s gardens. Centre members have also done some beautiful spoken word and poetry that we are playing in the garden during the event and people have done craft elements to incorporate into the garden including origami butterflies made from maps to represent the journey people have had coming to this country...I would like it to make people really think about what the centre does and the stories of the people that have been involved in making the garden.”

For Everybody Arts, which partnered with Cross Lane Primary School for their show garden, taking part in Seeds of Hope has been an opportunity to “celebrate the positive impact that spending time in nature and being creative can have on people's health and happiness”, says artistic director Harriet Fletcher. "At Everybody Arts, wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do... This project has given us a fantastic opportunity – encouraging people to connect with each other, with the natural world and with their own creativity.”

After the event, the Seeds of Hope mini gardens will return to the communities across Calderdale who created them. “When you look at the different groups we have worked with, it really reflects the community of Calderdale,” notes Jo. “It really celebrates the community spirit we have and that nature connection that is really important to people across the valley in lots of different ways.”

"For us the real story is that after the festival each of the gardens is being installed in the community so it will create this future trail of Seeds of Hope gardens around Calderdale,” she adds. “I hope it leads to more people wanting to get involved in volunteering in their local area, we hope it raises the profile of the groups involved – and I’d love it if more people were inspired to get into gardening or growing.”

• Seeds of Hope is part of the wider Stage at the Lake programme celebrating 100 years of Shibden Park. The festival, running until August 16, also includes talks, tours and workshops. Visit stageatthelake.co.uk/seeds-of-hope