Garden party launches View Tube Grow Olympic garden

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15 Jun 2011

Marks and Spencer and Groundwork London together with London Wildlife Trust celebrated the official opening of the new temporary community growing garden at the View Tube on the Greenway, overlooking the London 2012 Olympic Stadium in Stratford on Wednesday 8 June.

Over 65 guests gathered in View Tube’s garden  in high spirits as they enjoyed the opportunity to view the garden in full bloom against the backdrop of the Olympic Village. They were treated to a selection of culinary delights made by the Container Café using ingredients from the garden – including spinach & garlic wheel and red onion and goats’ cheese tart with thyme. Guests voted for their favourite new recipe which has led to both now being added to the summer menu.

The community garden, also known as View Tube Grow, has been supported by money raised from Marks & Spencer’s carrier bag charge and will serve as a social enterprise and community educational relaxing venue for gardening. The garden will play a part in educating visitors to the site about healthy living, food growing and local wildlife and biodiversity.

In May 2008, M&S introduced a 5p charge for food carrier bags in all of its UK stores, to encourage customers to reduce the amount of plastic bags they use and bring a reusable bag for life with them each time they shop. All profit from the charge is going to Groundwork to invest in ‘Greener Living Spaces’ like View Tube Grow.

Groundwork London and London Wildlife Trust collaborated with artist Lisa Cheung of Invisible Dust to incorporate artwork into the garden. She created functional sculptures with windbreaks that provide shelter for the plants and are key to the successful use of the planting beds.

The funding from M&S’ carrier bag charge enabled Groundwork London to develop this urban oasis and build five accessible raised planting beds to grow flowers, vegetables and herbs including thyme and radishes, that provide a source of fresh ingredients for the on-site Container Café. The raised beds have been specially designed to maximise accessibility and two of them have cut-outs to allow wheelchair users to gain easier access and enable everyone to get involved in gardening.

There have been a series of ten gardening sessions run by Groundwork London for local volunteers to participate in and learn new skills by taking part in organised gardening lessons and encourage growth in the garden.

Volunteer Mark Hutchison spoke on behalf of the volunteers: “Getting the garden to grow was difficult because we started at the coldest point of the year, so it almost felt like an uphill struggle! However, our secret weapon was Groundwork London’s Community Gardener Clare Hillman. She taught us everything from sowing and planting, and showed us how to tend to the plants. It was a steep learning curve for volunteers but you only have to look around you to see how hard we worked.”

Guests undertook a tour of the garden before a plaque was unveiled by John Hopkins, Project Director for Parklands and Public Realm for the Olympic Delivery Authority and Rosie Murdoch, Manager of View Tube. Mr Hopkins said: "The View Tube is part of the Olympic Park now, and in legacy of the 2012 Games. What we have seen here today with this garden is the approach we have taken across the park to sustainable and inclusive design".

Lucy Geldard, Area Manager, Groundwork London said: “The volunteers deserve a lot of the credit for what you see today. We want to encourage people to visit green spaces and provide an educational space at this inspiring location, so children and young people can learn in a natural environment and develop an awareness of green issues.”

Rosie Murdoch, Manager, View Tube explained the purpose of the garden and thanked everyone involved: “As we are only accessible by foot and bicycle, sourcing our own fruit and vegetables for the cafe is the ultimate sustainable solution. The vegetables grown here will be used as ingredients for food made by the café. The food waste will then be composted in the garden to feed the worms, which will eventually turn into food for the plants. The View Tube is grateful for the generosity and support from volunteers, the public, the Container Cafe and partners Marks & Spencer, Groundwork London, London Wildlife Trust, the Olympic Delivery Authority, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Thames Water and Bike Works.”

The View Tube is a partnership project between Leaside Regeneration, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, the Olympic Delivery Authority and Thames Water. With amenities including a café, education, arts and information spaces, combined with a panoramic view over the Olympic Park and Stratford City, The View Tube aims to serve as a social enterprise and community venue.