Art activists visit Grow Heathrow – Tara’s blog

The week, from 21st – 25th June, was a brilliantly mad one as the Interference group – a group of over 20 radical artists, activists and individuals, learnt about the links between art and activism.

We went on a day trip to the Grow Heathrow camp in the village of Sipson, the village recently saved from destruction due to the cancellation of the third runway.

As we arrived the group was having introductory talks from Paddy. I was busy being horrendously late, and had to wait for someone to find the keys for the gate. Looking over at the row of greenhouses it looked homely and welcoming, and I got to chat to some of the long term people on the site who’d been working to turn this land into an organic market garden from March. It was easy to see the huge commitment made to the site as derelict greenhouses had been restored to working spaces full of plants, sofas and working equipment (all donated mostly from the local community). There were several tonnes of rubbish on site that the local residents had convinced Hillingdon council to clear free of charge.

What Interference has found so inspiring from this is that it found activism at its extreme end and at its most potent, working with local communities for real change and long term goals. The land itself is also gorgeous, although ridiculously hot in the summer heat. It was a fully working mini village, with living space, toilets and plenty of food growing around us. The people at Grow Heathrow welcomes visitors with workshops and talks about climate change, permaculture and the surrounding issues of these.

My main task for the day was helping to create lunch with Kasha and Lisa from Interference. We already had chilli cooked by Sam and Mark, as well as some little extras, and finding the communal kitchen wonderful to use, decided to get a little bit ambitious. I made my best ever pot of rice, fried some potatoes and made red onion marmalade using the supplies generously given to us by the Grow Heathrow team. We all had a fantastic lunch in the shade, following a morning of the Interference group helping out on site with construction and gardening.

During the afternoon, fully inspired by the visit, we went off in our groups across the rest of the site to plan our own actions the next day around east London (you can read all about that in our book ‘A piece of the action’ self published and released, or have a look at our flickr account for a visual account of the week, including our time at Grow Heathrow).

Having moved away from Hounslow recently I’m looking forward to returning to that wonderful place (as are many other Interference people!) for the working weekend coming on —- where volunteers once again will pitch their fork into making the land functional and beautiful. Come and join us there!