It has been a busy summer and we are hugely relieved that the rain has finally started to fall! We are thankful that in the North we at least have some rain but the strange weather of summer 2022 has made us a little anxious for the future as we wonder how the climate emergency will impact us.
One way we can do our bit to look after our world is to invest in our soil. We are delighted to have been awarded a grant from Social Farms and Gardens and Grind to invest in our composting systems. Working with Minna from compost works we are looking at ways to create quick compost using our waste from the garden to mean we never have to buy compost again. Combined with our ‘no-dig’ methodology this will maximise the soils ability to store carbon.
Over the summer we have spent a lot of time eating! Cooking with our food is an integral part of who we are and eating together quickly builds community. One of the best meals was a big buffet of potato salad, bean salad, greens and a pasta using all our own veg. Lunchtime felt like a family party!
A highlight of the summer is when we open on a Thursday evening while the light nights allow. These sessions are always quite chilled out with a lot of tea-drinking! It’s a great opportunity to meet new people who aren’t around in the day (welcome to Jen!) and to have time to chat and get to know each other. Another summer highlight is Bootle in Bloom. Working with Taking Root in Bootle we help facilitate Bootle’s town entry into this RHS competition. We love challenging the stereotype of what Bootle is and focusing on our beautiful green spaces and amazing local residents.
Work is still progressing (although quite slowly!) on our new kitchen build. Sometimes we are a little overwhelmed with the amount we don’t know that we need to know, but slow progress is still moving forward. A special mention needs to go to Andy from Green Sefton for lying on the floor with his head down manhole covers in the park to see which way the water drained! Our planning request went in last week and we are praying this goes smoothly so we can get our build on!
We have spent time recently ‘getting our house’ in order. As a result we now have a beautiful new website, volunteer induction, updated policies and are working on a new impact measurement tool. It’s easy to forget these things in the busyness of the garden in summer but they are essential if we are going to be sustainable as an organisation – and we want to be around for a long-time!
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Hartley’s Newspaper now available
Our heritage group have been working hard and have produced a newspaper all about William Hartley and his love of jam and people (2 of the things we love as well!)
This newspaper is available in Gateway Kitchen Community Cafe, Bootle Library and Crosby Library if you want a physical copy or feel free to download it here!
Made possible with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund we have been exploring Bootle’s jam making heritage, focusing on Hartleys Jam. William Pickles Hartley founded Hartleys Jam in Bootle in 1874. We have explored the archives of local libraries and the universities and have found out A LOT about this remarkable man. Our findings will be published in a newspaper later in the year but the parallels for today need to be shared sooner!
Hartley was a self made man. He didn’t come from a wealthy family but he had a vision and he believed he could achieve.
What would the world look like today if we took the opportunities available to us?
Hartley was honest. He believed his products should be high quality and sold at a fair price
What would the world look like today if everyone was honest and fair in business?
Hartley believed he had a responsibility to the people around him. When he got married he pledged to give 10% of his income to charitable causes and this had risen to 33% at the time of his death. In total he gave away 1 million pounds which equates to £154,036,551 today.
What would the world look like today if big businesses looked after their local communities?
Hartley was a devout Primitive Methodist and his Christian faith was evident in everything he did. “My daily prayer is that God will show me what he wishes me to do. I only want to see clearly his guiding hand, and I am daily asking him to lead me.”
If Hartley was alive today it is possible he would be diagnosed as bi-polar. His mood fluctuated between times of intense focus and productivity and times where he struggled to get out of bed and his anxious thoughts overwhelmed him.
What would the world look like today if we believed people with mental ill-health could achieve great things?
