Happy third birthday, Grow Heathrow!

Photo credit: Jon Goldberg

At the beginning of March, Grow Heathrow turned three years old. In our biggest event yet, we opened the gates to well over 100 people for a day packed full of amazing activities!

The day began with site tours and loads of exciting ways to get messy: everyone got their hands dirty sowing seeds and then making plant pots (using our very own clay!); children had their faces painted as superheroes and butterflies; and visitors created their own pizzas that were baked in our homemade clay oven!

Amongst all this, to cheers and to tunes from some wonderful musicians – and with lots of helping hands – our second wind turbine was erected! Then the sun came out for a mind-boggling magic show and mouth-watering cake competition. The prize went to Brenda with her masterpiece made using homegrown beetroot and jam from berries foraged in the village! Shout out to the raw food cake, with layers of red, gold and green, too!

Local residents and members of Transition Heathrow also had the chance to speak about the importance of the site for the community in its struggle against airport expansion. As the sun set over the greenhouses, we sat down to a delicious curry by the fire and then partied the night away to a pedal-powered sound system in our self-build straw bale house!

With spring just around the corner, it’s time to start growing food, getting crafty and sharing skills. Check the main page on our website for all the latest info on foraging Mondays, the growing club, CRAFTernoons, our bike workshop, a renewable energy skillshare, the growing celebration, straw bale building extravaganza and chicken home work week, plus other festivities.

But, with all this activity, we need to invest in compost and tools and paintbrushes! As we’re running short on funds, we’d love to receive donations! You can give us money right here.

Mostly, we just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped make the day so special!

More Cranford Park dates for your diary

A reminder that this Sunday, March 17 (11am – 1pm) the Friends of Cranford Park will be opening the ‘Secret Garden’ for the first time this year.

We will be tidying up ready for spring, preparing the ground and sowing seeds. There’s no need to book, just come along, either to volunteer (tools provided) or have a look at this special place. Refreshments will be provided for all volunteers. The garden is situated beside the Stable Block.

For the first time, the Friends plan to open the Secret Garden regularly this year (with support from Macmillan Cancer Relief), for a monthly volunteer session. After this Sunday’s bash it will open on these Sundays from 10am – 12 noon: April 21, May 26, June 23.

More Cranford Park dates for your diary:

No booking necessary unless stated! Outdoor events take place whatever the weather. Unless stated otherwise, please meet at the park information centre.

Third Thursday of every month (March 21, April 18, etc) 11am. Cranford Park Healthy Walk. A brisk two-mile stroll in friendly company.

Saturday April 20, 11am. Bluebell Walk. Join the Countryside & Conservation Officer for a guided walk, enjoying our wonderful display of spring flowers.

Wednesday May 15, 7pm. River Crane Talk part 1. Fish Identification & Urban River Management. (Though this event takes place at Minet Country Park’s visitor centre it is relevant to our park.) Exploring the characteristics and challenges faced by urban rivers and what can be done to improve river habitats. Please book with Alison Shipley – phone 01895 250647 or email ashipley@hillingdon.govuk.

Thursday May 23, 7.30pm. Cranford Park Friends General Meeting. Venue to be confirmed.

Saturday June 1, 11am. Butterfly Walk. Join the Countryside & Conservation Officer to see a wide variety of species, following the park’s ‘butterfly transit route’.

Wednesday June 12, 7pm. River Crane Talk part 2. Riverside Habitats & Species. An evening walk and talk at Cranford Park. You can go into the river if you wish (please bring wellies; nets will be provided). Please book with Alison Shipley (details above).

Saturday June 29, 11am. ‘Knights, Earls & Ghosts’, free History Tour. Follow in the footsteps of some interesting characters from Cranford’s past.

Getting ready for the scrumping season

The London Orchard Project is an initiative promoting orchards and fruit trees in London. They are working with Londoners to plant and harvest apple, pear and plum trees all over the city, and help us all to rediscover the pleasure of eating home-grown fruit.

They are launching a new project, which aims to uncover existing orchards in London, and they’re looking for volunteers from all over London who have a bit of time available to help out with this project over the next six months.

The London Orchard Project have a database of potential orchard sites and need people to check whether they are indeed orchards and, if they are, to survey them to establish what state they are in. The survey data will be captured on a database so that we can get a much better picture of the state of London’s existing orchards and start to harvest them where possible!

You can see the map of orchards here. There are a lot potential sites in the Heathrow area, so when the sun comes out we’re going to hop on our bikes and go on an orchard hunt.

Stay tuned for more info.

Growing Sundays: spring into action

The Growing Season has begun! After an amazing weekend the sun has been shining and the birds singing, yes the spring has arrived, therefore there are lots of jobs to do in the garden, in preparation for a beautiful organic growing season.

So come join us at Grow Heathrow, this Sunday at 2pm for a full day’s graft of compost, seed sowing, mulching and more.

GROWING SUNDAYS ARE BACK - Many hands make light work, so the more the merrier!! Meet and jobs for the day from 2pm till dusk There will be growing tasks followed by an evening of discussion and planning, for a forest garden design in the coppice.

17 March: Spring prep at Cranford park

Come along to Cranford Park to help with light gardening, including sowing wild flowers, or just to have a look. All welcome, bring the family.

Sunday March 17, 11am – 1pm. ‘Secret Garden’ Spring preparation

Tools, good company and light refreshments provided. Meet in the small walled garden, adjacent to the Stable Block. This, we hope, will be the first of many openings of the garden this season (with Macmillan Cancer Support).

More information about the group can be found at – http://www.cranfordparkfriends.org/

Last chance to save our commons!

Residents all over Hayes were outraged this week when the London Borough of Hillingdon planning committee voted to approve the application for a school to be built on Lake Farm Country Park. This is despite overwhelming opposition in the consultation, which appears to have been ignored.

We now need to urge Boris Johnson, Mayor for London to intervene and exercise his powers to reject this planning application.

We need to request that he asserts pressure on Hillingdon Council to look more effectively at the alternatives available to meet the need for pupil places in our area without building upon such a sensitive area of green belt and open space, which is cherished by local residents.

This template letter is for you to use should you wish to; just sign it and send it directly to Boris.

In addition, John McDonnell, the local MP, has arranged for locals to meet GLA members at City Hall. This will take place on Tuesday 12th March at 1pm. He is inviting you to join on Tuesday to voice our objection.

Talk and film screening about La ZAD!

Come to Grow Heathrow this Friday at 7pm for a talk and film screening about La ZAD!

La ZAD (Zone A Défendre) is Europe’s largest postcapitalist protest camp & anti-airport occupation, and is situated near Nantes in France. If you want to find out more before Friday, read this amazing blog!!

You’re invited to Grow Heathrow’s third birthday party, Sat 2nd March. Woo!

With the arrival of March, Grow Heathrow will turn 3 years old – it’s time to celebrate!

Come along for a day of feasting, music, cake competitions, swap shops, arts and crafts, seed sewing, free yoga lesson and celebrations. Bring your friends, family and an entry for the cake competition on Saturday 2nd March, from 1.27pm exactly.

Have you been meaning to visit for yonks and never made it down?

— Finally, after three years, the perfect excuse! —

Did you come down a while ago, meet some lovely friends and leave feeling inspired?

— Now’s your chance to come again, meet up and top up!—

Did you brave the winter months in the snow at our site?

— You deserve to celebrate after that, come and welcome the spring! —

And if none of that’s relevant to you, we still want to see your lovely mush here to mark this special occasion – THREE YEARS ON.

We hope you can join us x x x

Don’t think twice – get in touch on 07890751568 or info@transitionheathrow.com.

Next stop: legal limbo

We have just found out that our court judgement is in a list of four or five judgements that are yet decided. Our case could result in a change of human rights case law after Grow Heathrow forced the UK’s second highest court to weigh up the principle of private property (article 1, ECHR) against the right to a home (article 8, ECHR).

Although the judgement was expected by 28 February, the latest update is that the judgement could be given any time in the next few months. It’s impossible to guess exactly when that’ll be.

In the mean time, we’re asking the landowner, Imran Malik, to come back to the table to talk about our longstanding offer to buy the land. We have been formally advised by one of the UK’s leading experts in community land trusts (CLTs) on finalising the specific legal structures, processes and documents for the land to be owned by the local community. As a community land trust, it can continue to thrive and be used for the good of Sipson and the Heathrow villages, and this be secured for the long term.

Imran Malik’s legal team insisted in the Royal Courts of Justice on 15 January: “If the landowner wants to leave the land vacant, they’re entitled to.”

Threats of eviction come amid a desperate government crackdown on squatting. 24 MPs signed a parliamentary petition in January that would criminalise Grow Heathrow. It threatens to criminalise all homeless people who are forced to live in empty abandoned commercial buildings amid housing and economic crises, by making it illegal to squat commercial buildings. Recent research found that 40% of all single homeless people have depended on squatting to have a roof over their head.

New community space for the Austen Estate

On Saturday the 9th Feb, Transition Heathrow, together with the Cass Project and Hillingdon Play, held an open space for discussing the potential of a community garden in Hayes.

Locals were invited to come down and meet each other at the proposed site on the Austen estate.  Hillingdon Play provided games and activities for the children while we offered foraged teas at the ‘rocket stove cafe’ and music from our cycle powered sound system.

It was a fun and informal event where many people met for the first time to chat over tea and cakes. Residents and Cass architecture students came up with ideas and improvements for five currently disused spaces on the estate. Feedback from local people indicated that it is usual for next door neighbours not to know each other and that there is a desire for a sense of community here.

The initial interest seems to be in the creation of a children’s play area with seating, and possibly a selection of fruit trees and a herb garden as a valuable addition.