Crop-Ups at Tolworth Station

We were delighted to, once again, have the opportunity to exhibit at the Hampton Court Garden Festival this year as part of the Community Allotment Gardens category. Our colourful exhibit, CROP-UPS, received lots of attention, positive comments and we were pleased to see visitors engaging with the design, discussing how they could re-imagine greening opportunities in their communities.

After the festival, CROP-UPS caught the train and travelled to Tolworth station where it is on display once more, as part of our work to transform the wasteland around the station into The Cutting and Crop-Ups.

The Cutting, at the rear of the station, will become a wildlife garden, encouraging biodiversity and functioning as a safe outdoor meeting space for residents to use, allowing them to take cuttings of herbs and other plants. Crop-Ups, to the side of the station, will become an extension of our exhibit - temporary growing spaces for the community with some of the food grown hopefully used in the community kitchen, Baking Ideas.

After clearing and flattening a section of wasteland to the rear and to the side of the station, we were able to move in our Crop-Ups wheelie bins as well as some plants from Hampton Court Garden Festival and The Championships, Wimbledon, that we were able to re-home.

On 2nd August we had our first of three volunteer days this month and were able to start work on transforming the space. After a herculean effort, we were able to shift even more rubble, give the plants some much needed TLC, re-install our geodesic dome, wheelie bins and create a home for three donated trees.

On 23rd August, Community Payback came along and carried out an incredible amount of manual work, further expanding the space for volunteers to get creative the following day, ready for our ‘thank you’ event on 29th - Costa Del Tol.

Sometimes change can feel a slow process, but in just three days we have been able to turn wasteland into another playground for the community. We are looking forward to the next stages and seeing this space become a destination for all.

Special thanks to Simon Jakeman, SC Fencing & Groundworks, Nat Lunn, Scotscape, IdVerde, Guinness Homes, Network Rail, SouthWestern Rail, Community payback, 121 Collective and of course the wonderful volunteers - without which these projects simply couldn’t happen.

Keen to get involved? Email contact@thecommuntiybrain.org or come along and see the transformation yourself!