Written by “A great group of people, doing great things …”
A welcoming space for all – Long Eaton Community Garden has blossomed into a vibrant, inclusive space where people of all ages and backgrounds come together to enjoy nature, to learn new skills and to build connections. We are united in creating an attractive, productive and environmentally sensitive Green Space.
The garden is wholly run and led by volunteers and a small Steering Group oversees its management and development.
The garden is a member of the Together by Nature collaborative of health and wellbeing providers. Through this we receive referrals from social and mental health prescribers and other agencies who are working with people they believe will benefit from our friendly, welcoming and accessible green space.
Over recent years we have won a number of local authority Community Space awards and last year a volunteer suggested that we try for the Green Flag Community Award. We looked at the criteria on their excellent website and were willing to give it a go, knowing that the feedback we would get would be helpful even if we were unsuccessful at our first attempt.
So what did we have to do? Our first steps were to make sure our volunteers were on board with this, to gather photographs and evidence of our activities and achievements and to put these together into a management plan for the next 5 years. The aim was to show how we meet the Green Flag judging criteria, and how we hope to be able to keep the accolade in the future.
The Green Flag judging criteria are:
- A welcoming place
- Healthy, safe and secure
- Well maintained and clean
- Environmental Management
- Biodiversity, landscape and Heritage
- Community Involvement
- Management/achievements
We started the process towards the end of 2024 and were ready to submit our online plan with accompanying evidence such as insurance documents, copies of our leasehold agreements, and accounts by the application deadline of 31st January 2025. As a Community Group there was no charge to enter.
We were assigned a Green Flag judge who works in a neighbouring local authority and he made contact to set up a mutually convenient date for the judging visit. It was an incredibly positive experience – Chris was interested in the garden: how we work, what activities we offer from the garden, our volunteers and local partners, the site itself and our commitment to biodiversity.
Chris’s visit was in mid May and the results of our application were shared with us in late June, although embargoed until the date of the Green Flag Award ceremony. We had a score sheet (each facet of the judging criteria carries a number of marks) and were thrilled to see how highly we had scored. The accompanying feedback report was invaluable as it highlighted strengths and recommendations against the judging criteria. The quote at the top of this article was Chris’s final comment.
We were absolutely delighted with the outcome and it’s been a huge motivator for our entire volunteer team. The Awards ceremony was wonderful; a very professional event and we were proud to meet so many people committed to green spaces and to be recognised for what we do.
The process has been so positive and now we have the award we don’t want to lose it. Our management plan together with the feedback report gives us a great programme to work to. Next year we will have a mystery shopper visit to see how we’re doing and then we make a full application and will be judged again in 2027.
What does the award mean to us? Well, for our team of enthusiastic volunteers it’s a huge motivator. Many people have contributed to the creation and development of the garden over more than a decade, and it’s a well-deserved recognition of their efforts. It’s proof that we are on the right lines in our determination to reach out to partners and to create a truly inclusive community space. We hope that it will help us in any future funding bids for the garden and that it will also encourage other potential partners to work with us.
We have learnt so much from working with Green Flag and one thing in particular stands out – the need to celebrate our achievements and not to be apologetic if things aren’t perfect. The award recognises commitment, awareness and an appetite for improvement and we would really encourage other community spaces to give it a go.
Green Flag also issue template press releases and we have adapted these to highlight our success with local Councillors and local authority contacts, our garden users, local social media followers, voluntary agencies and other bodies such as the local WI, who all help to spread the good news about the garden. We’re proud to be one of the 2,250 national winners of the Green Flag in 2025/6.
Contact the group here longeatoncg@gmail.com
Written By Lynn Hodgkins