“Many people are good at talking about what they are doing, but in fact do little. Others do a lot but don’t talk about it; they are the ones who make a community live.”
― Jean Vanier
When we think of close knit communities that helped each other out and looked after one another, we tend to think of the past, such as the communities who flourished during the second world war. This is certainly not the case when it comes to the Daisy Dell Action Group a community action group based in Bolton Lancashire. They are a close knit but open and friendly group made up of residents and community members who live in the area. This community who are based on a Council Estate in the Deane area of Bolton, worked with Bolton at Home to improve an area of land on their estate that had previously been used as garages but had fallen into disrepair. The work that the local community and Bolton at Home did in transferring the land from an eyesore to a valuable community resource that could be accessed by all in the local area is incredible.
Community involvement
The residents themselves chose the design for this outdoor community space. They secured funding to landscape the area and plant fruit trees and fruit bushes around the perimeter of the site. The wild flowers on the site were planted by the young people in the area, and various flowering bulbs with two willow constructions leading through the site at oppose. After this work has been completed this vibrant and well used piece of community space is used as a resource by people in the area in the form of courses for local residents and as a general outdoor resource for community members.
Helping community cohesion
The dell open space is used by a diverse group of people who represent different global cultures. I attended the Daisy Dell May day celebration this year where I presented workshops and gave vegetable and herb seeds away. Whilst I was there I noticed that people of all cultures chatted and enjoyed the days food and celebration. This is where real community cohesion and connections are occurring amongst the people from different cultures and traditions. This is able to happen because the community came together to on the issue of having a community space. It is within community spaces where community happens, where associations are made and friendships formed.
Plans for the future
The community group plan to expand their horticultural practices and are looking at developing food growing both on the site and in peoples gardens that are close to the site. There is also already one or two residents keeping chickens and providing community members with freshly hatched free range eggs. The group are also going to be exploring different ways and methods of enhancing the ecology of the site by employing sustainable low impact strategies that they will develop on the site over time.