A social enterprise in Wirral is launching a fundraising campaign to create an urban walled garden in time for Birkenhead Park’s 175th anniversary
Birkenhead-based social enterprise HYPE Merseyside is calling for the public to support a crowdfunding campaign to create an urban walled garden.
The community project would be launched time for Birkenhead Park’s 175th anniversary in April. The organisation needs to raise £3,000 to create a public space that will contain colourful and exotic plants, a water feature and will provide a welcoming habitat for insects, birds and other creatures.
The courtyard behind the HYPE’s office, located in the listed building at the entrance to the park, has mainly been used for storage over the past 12 months but it now wants to transform the empty space into one that the whole community can enjoy.
There will also be a seating area where visitors can take in the sights, sounds and scents of the garden while enjoying a cup of coffee purchased from HYPE’s office. All money made from coffee sales will, in turn, be used to maintain the organisation’s larger plot of green space in the park, which is 200 metres from the garden.
The walled garden will be used by HYPE to run its weekly events and community groups will also be able to use it for meetings and workshops. If the campaign is successful, the garden will be delivered by Grow Wellbeing and six young HYPE Merseyside staff members.
It will be done with the support of Kindred, a collaborative network of socially-trading organisations in the Liverpool city region. HYPE has extensive experience in transforming empty spaces into areas that can be used purposefully by the community to deliver events and activities.
Local youngsters will be engaged in the process of designing and installing the garden and HYPE’s volunteer youth gardening group would be responsible for its maintenance after completion. The crowdfunder launched on Monday, January 24, and will run until Monday, February 28.
Matthew Houghton from HYPE Merseyside said: “We are always looking for ways to maximise empty spaces in our community. We believe this courtyard space will benefit local residents and visitors, particularly young people, and we have a really exciting vision for the urban walled garden.
“We have expert support in place for this project. Our team of young staff and volunteers are bursting with ideas and ready and raring to go – all we need now are the funds to turn the vision into a reality.”
There will be a number of incentives to donate, including a complimentary mug of HYPE’s finest coffee in a take-home ‘Urban Walled Garden’ coffee mug if you donate £20, your family name engraved on an ‘Urban Walled Garden’ legends board if you donate £100 and the opportunity to become the main sponsor of the ‘Urban Walled Garden and Coffee Shop’ if you donate £1,000.