Since March 2020, Stretford Public Hall has managed a ‘pocket park’, a small area of public greenspace next to the hall. The pocket park is managed by a team of dedicated volunteer gardeners, who meet to work on the site every fortnight.
Thanks to initial funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), we carried out some landscaping of the site. We installed a seating area with benches, and planted 8 heritage varieties of fruit trees. Every year, we sow wildflower meadow around the fruit trees.
In 2022, our pocket park was awarded Level 4 ‘Thriving’ in the RHS In Your Neighbourhood Awards. The judges described ‘A delightful pocket park to the side that leads to the subway, was a lovely surprise planted with wildflowers, herbaceous plants and heritage fruit trees to great effect!’
We are now working on developing a new area of the pocket park, and have lots of new planting planned for 2023.
Our gardening club meets every Tuesday from 10:00-12:00.
If you’re interested in getting involved with the pocket park as a volunteer, please get in touch with Kaf, our volunteer coordinator: katherine@stretfordpublichall.org.uk