At what was possibly the UK’s first ever ‘Open Yardens’ event, a number of Moss Side and Rusholme houses opened up their back gates to allow the public in to see their amazing ‘yardens’ (bigger than a yard, but not quite a garden).
Manchester hasn’t had the best press this last week but demonstrating that community spirit is still alive and stronger than ever in peaceful Moss Side, the event’s colourful displays, coinciding with the end of the Caribbean Carnival, reinforced this year’s carnival theme celebrating 30 years of increasing unity and development in Moss Side since the 1981 riots and shows what a long way we have come.
If you follow me on twitter or facebook at all, you might have noticed I’m quite proud of where I live, so it was a delight for me to document the afternoon; inspired by such a showcase I might even devote more time to my own slightly neglected yarden! There were lots of locals drawn in, similarly getting inspired by the variety, as well as a number of visitors from further afield.
What these narrow terraces lack in space, they more than make up for with imaginative and creative design. Visitors followed a self-guided tour, aided by a beautiful map, to discover hidden oases tucked away in densely built streets, featuring an abundance of fruit and vegetables, Mediterranean-style sheltered patios, mini orchards, converted air-raid shelters, lawns and even a 100 year old fig tree, before voting for their favourite.
In addition, a number of the alleyways have been gated, enabling the residents nearby to take ownership of them, keeping them clean and green and turning them into great shared urban gardens for neighbours. One newly gated alley had a live gardening demonstration, making planters out of old crates.
One of our councillors, Sameem Ali, pictured here. I hear rumours that Tony Lloyd MP was also around.
Open Yardens was organised by The Avenues Residents Association, Transition Moss Side and The Moss Cider Project with funding from Manchester City Council.
The day concluded with a bbq for all the hard-working volunteers, yarden owners and organisers, held in Cranswick Square (a fantastic space created by Cranswick Square residents who reclaimed this unused spot, headed up by the remarkable Phil Dodd).
Here’s a massive thumbs up to the organisers who have been tirelessly working on this project for weeks:
Dan, announcing the winner of the Yardens quiz, (their prize: an apple tree of course, donated by The Moss Cider Project) …
… Joel and Becca of Transition Moss Side…
… and Jo of The Avenues Residents Association … along with many more!
(I just turned the camera on these kids and they went beserk!)
So inspiring… not just the yardens (which are indeed fab and why I looked in the first place, as inspiration for my tiny sad yard!) but the lovely sense of community too. Beautifully captured as ever Hannah. Wonderful xxx
What a lovely project! Great photos too.
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I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at these photographs, they are truly magnificent and it is nice to see that my “old” flat-mate [Leicester, 50+ years ago] Ken Shone thinks likewise ! Well done everyone.
Having been at the original meeting that this idea came from, I was really sad to miss this day, so it is amazing to see so many wonderful gardens that I hadn’t seen when we all went door-knocking! So exciting, will bust a gut to not work next year. And can we make it Rusholme? Well done everyone, it’s inspired several of my friends who came round and are now full of renewed enthusiasm (though I do think Moss Side terraces have much larger yards than Rusholme!!)
Lovely pictures! As heartwarming as a glass of red wine before dinner.
Well done to all.
Thanks for all the great comments – I’ll make sure Open Yardens hear all your positive feedback.
As a wee Monday morning diversion, you might be interested in this: Small Gardens in Unexpected Places http://gardensinunexpectedplaces.tumblr.com/
Brilliant collection of photos – great to see snippets of what other people did. This was a fantastic community event – let’s keep the spirit of it going!
Fantastic result – A great collection of photos – congratulations to the organisers for getting this together and well done everybody who entered into the spirit of it all and opened up their work…Friends of Whitworth Park are trying to do the same thing there and would welcome anybody who can get us up to this terrific level of achievement.
I had a fab time stewarding and showing people where to go. There were so many positive comments and the visitors were really inspired by what they saw. Can I be involved again next year?
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Beautiful, beautiful photos. After nearly a year away, it makes me proud and exciting to be heading home to Moss Side. Lovely.
What an amazing feel good photoblog post. This has put a smile on my face and made my morning.
These are really lovely photos which capture perfectly the community spirit, beautiful yardens and great afternoon in Moss Side. Well done to everyone who put this event together – it really reflects the energy and commitment of people in Moss Side. Thanks to everyone who put in so much work to create these beautiful yardens and alleyways, and then opened them up for everyone to see. I hope you can do it again next year
Best wishes, Ruth
Hannah, what marvellous photos; talented woman! and such a great day!
Congratulations to the organisers as well as the gardeners!! It was really heartening and uplifting to see the joy and friendships which develop from growing things. We ran out of time too, please can open for 2 days next year, if practical?
It was a great event, and these photos capture it brilliantly. A few months back I’d have never thought a summer afternoon would be spent exploring gardens in Moss Side, so many thanks to everyone who organised it. My favourite photo is either the crazy multicoloured lamp thing, or the one of Jo’s alley way with Jo sneakily photo bombing in the background!
Aaaah, finally I get to look round other people’s yardens! Only downside of opening up your own yarden is not being able to be nosey like everyone else! So much beautiful and inspiring stuff going on in this incredible community. Well, done Moss Side. You make me very proud to live here. And well done Hannah Beatrice for capturing the day perfectly as you always do. Super stuff.
Great event. An inspiration to others, what can be achieved in a limited space. Hope you can continue this event next year, feel sure others will want to enter after seeing some of these lovely Yardens.
Making Moss Side a greener place to live. A real Community in Action.
Phil
Great photos which really capture the event. I had a really great day meeting lovely, creative people who’d somehow managed to shoehorn amazing little gardens into their backyards and alleys. In fact, there were so many to see, I ran out of time before visiting them all. Thanks to all involved for such an inspiring day!