Activating a community green space

Since spring 2023, there’s been plenty of talk about creating a community garden in the heart of Cornholme. After identifying the green space next to Vale Baptist Church as the perfect spot, Active Calderdale worked with landowners Todmorden Town Council to draw up plans that included wheelchair-accessible raised beds, community vegetable growing, improved paths, and better seating.

With funding approved in May 2024, Todmorden Town Council developed the space and supported the creation of Vale Community Garden. Their main goals are to bring the community together, grow food for Cornholme residents, and establish a gardening group to manage the garden going forward. Through wider, better pathways and a new accessible picnic bench, Active Calderdale’s investment has helped make the site more welcoming, inclusive, and ideal for people to get active outdoors.

Since March 22nd, Todmorden Town Council has hosted gardening sessions roughly every two weeks, encouraging peer-led learning around food growing and garden maintenance. They’ve also introduced creative sessions, offering people the chance to spend time in the garden even if they don’t fancy getting their hands dirty!

With support from Culturedale funding, the gardening group received seeds, plants, and tools, and helped organise the Cornholme Community Day, which raised the garden’s profile through willow-weaving workshops, forest school activities, and bike repair sessions — plus stalls from Todmorden Stroll and Roll and Community Rights of Way Service (CROWS).

The atmosphere on gardening days is always positive, with people chatting, learning, and getting to know one another. Passersby often stop to see what’s growing and share stories. A core group of regular volunteers has now formed, ready to take the next steps toward becoming a constituted group, confident in their skills to maintain the garden independently.

It has been really interesting to see the development of the group, and to see people coming together from the designing of what should be planted in raised beds at the beginning, to discussing what should come next for the garden.  

From a personal perspective, being involved with a community garden has made food growing seem more achievable – you don’t have to have a lot of space, or money, or expertise to be able to grow your own food! And it’s been a great way to get active without realising it: digging holes to create fruit beds, shovelling woodchip around, and pulling up tenacious weeds!

Becca, Community Support Officer, Todmorden Town Council 

Locals are discovering where their food comes from and gaining a new appreciation for what goes into growing it. Many have tried vegetables and recipes they might not have before, and the physical side of gardening — digging, weeding, and wheelbarrow-lifting — brings an added fitness boost.

Supporting the gardening group has also had a positive impact on how the Town Council is perceived, allowing them to take a more facilitative, community-centred approach. It’s opened up new ways for residents to share feedback and ideas with the Council, strengthening local relationships.

One regular gardener and her son had only moved to Cornholme a few weeks before the first session, and the garden has played a huge part in helping them feel at home. They’ve said it made them feel like they’d ended up living in the right place — the opposite of what newcomers often expect! They now bring others along, helping them feel that same sense of connection and ownership. They’ve also thrown themselves into the creative side, painting the community garden signs and creating a beautiful map of the site.

Vale Community Garden has created opportunities to be active and social outdoors, supporting both physical and mental wellbeing — and of course, everyone gets to enjoy the delicious harvests!