All welcome to hear tales of British folklore as you’ve never heard them before! "Mischief Acts" - Zoe Gilbert, Tues 25th July 7pm. (Free event - books will be on sale).
Join author Freya Bromley in a writing workshop. In her book The Tidal Year she explores love, loss and the restorative power of nature. Freya will show us how to use creative writing as a therapeutic tool to support wellbeing and encourage self-expression. Together, we’ll try journaling prompts and free-writing exercises as well as exploring how writing about your surroundings can deepen your connection to the nature around you. This masterclass will be in person at Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses. It’s suitable for all levels and will be a supportive and safe environment. Freya believes everyone has a story to tell, but there’s no pressure and the only thing you need to participate is a pen and paper! Book here
Join local writer, poet and experienced creative writing tutor, Tracey Hammett, to explore your writing, generate new ideas, find inspiration and meet new people in this two hour Creative Writing workshop for adults. During the session we will be using the Community Greenhouses as a backdrop to explore connections between people, landscapes and stories – real and imagined. There will be short exercises and prompts to help you generate ideas, keep your writing flowing and add some new tools to your writer’s tool kit. There’ll be opportunities to share your writing too! The emphasis is on creativity, and fun in a beautiful environment. Book here
Join us to celebrate Fiona Davison’s aclaimed book An Almost Impossible Thing. The book follows six convention-busting women gardeners in the years before the First World War, examining their lives in the context of suffragism, collectivism and Empire. ‘Gardening, taken up as a hobby when all the laborious work can be done by a man, is delightful, but as a life’s work for a woman, it is almost an impossible thing.’ Sir Joseph Hooker, 1817-1911. While working at the Royal Horticultural Society, Fiona Davison came across a cache of letters from a young gardener who was denied a fellowship because she was a woman. Appalled, and intrigued to discover what became of Olive, Fiona began researching the wider story of early female professional gardeners whose struggles changed forever the rights and opportunities for women gardeners. Tickets are Pay What You Can from £7 | Find out more and book here
Kate Bradbury is an award-winning garden writer, broadcaster and TV presenter based in Hove, specialising in wildlife gardening. Her new book, One Garden Against the World is a beautiful, uplifting story chronicling the joys and challenges of nurturing biodiversity in urban spaces. Despite the beauty of her own garden oasis, Bradbury grapples with climate change anxiety and the urgent need for collective action to address habitat loss and rising temperatures. Part call to arms, part intimate nature diary interwoven with personal anecdotes about her family, relationships and beloved rescue dog, Kate’s book rallies us all in the fight against climate change and habitat loss by urging us to connect to the natural world via our outdoor spaces. In conversation, Kate will give us ideas about what we can all do, no matter how small our space, to encourage wildlife and make a positive impact on the planet. Tickets are Pay What You Can from £7 | Find out more and book here
Join us at Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses to celebrate the release of This Allotment: Stories of Growing, Eating and Nurturing, a collection of 12 vibrant pieces celebrating of allotment life, from gardeners, food writers, novelists, horticulturalists, and historians. Editor and publisher Sarah Rigby will be in conversation with gardener, writer and print maker Sui Searle. An allotment. ‘A ‘10 pole’ space for the growing of fruit and vegetables. A health-giving, heart-filling miniature kingdom of carrots, courgettes and callaloo. A microcosm for our societies at large as people claim their ‘patch’ and guard it fiercely, but also of welcoming arms, gifted gluts and new recipes from across the seas. They are places of resilience, resistance and freedom. They are blowsy dahlias, cricket on the radio, buzzing bees and the wisdom of weeds and seeds. This Allotment brings together thirteen brilliant writers in a glorious celebration of these entirely unique spaces: plots that mean so much more than the soil upon which they sit. Sarah Rigby is an editor, publisher and book coach, and publishing director at the vibrant independent Elliott & Thompson. She has published some of the country’s best-loved and award-winning writers of nature and place, including Nancy Campbell, Rob...