Monthly Garden Round Up - May 2022

Dear Fellow Gardeners

I do apologise for the lateness of this newsletter. A holiday in the sun and the Platinum Jubilee got the better of me!

May was certainly a busy month in the Bell House garden, with plenty of work being carried out across our three gardening days each week. Here’s a few highlights of what we achieved:

  • Let’s start at the front of Bell House. The ha-ha certainly had a lot of love in early May. Any brambles that were starting to set up home were dug out, as were a number of Horse Chestnut seedlings. The ha-ha is a lovely location for bluebells and they have been a success this year, brightening up all of our days when we arrive at Bell House. More bluebells will be planted out in the ha-ha, along with geraniums.

  • Over in the House Garden, we let the grass grow for “No Mow May” except for a mower-wide strip around the edge of the lawn. A couple of gardening sessions were spent weeding the Rose Garden and also creating a new path across the bed close to the entrance to the Rose Garden (right next to the bird feeder). The Bog Garden planting has been a great success. Everything is growing well and looking fabulous…the photo below is my best effort but doesn’t really do it justice! Another success has been the planting of forget-me-nots under the Hornbeam, these are looking beautiful along with their iris neighbours.

  • In the Walled Garden, we had an exciting discovery when we were moving the compost bins around – a bumblebee nest. We’ve protected the area so we don’t disturb them, and all groups still managed to sieve lots of compost ready for the vegetable beds. Already we are getting some lovely produce including broad beans and lettuces. Courgettes have been potted on as have some of our cutting flowers - cosmos and morning glory.

  • Towards the end of May, many of our gardeners were able to make the first group outing together. The first order of business was lunch - a delicious picnic lunch was shared in our very own sunny Bell House garden. An NGS garden at 5 Burbage Road was then visited, where the gardeners explored the beautiful plot to gather inspiration and met the creator, the lovely Rosemary. The trip was a roaring success and we hope it is the first of many. Thank you to Ellie for organising the visit. A fruit tree expert also visited the Bell House garden in May and suggested apple, pear and soft fruit trees that we could grow. A return visit will be made in the autumn to offer fruit growing workshops for our gardening group. Definitely something to look forward to .

Finally, for those who love a few numbers, 86 gardening sessions have been completed to date this year and we have 56 volunteer gardeners. Keep up the great work!

Thanks, as always, for your continued hard work in the Bell House garden.

Gaynor

Volunteer Profile – Rosie

Cast your mind back to December and you’ll remember that we were fundraising for Bell Health films as part of the Big Give Christmas Challenge. This month we shine a spotlight on Rosie, who coordinates the Bell Health project. Here she tells us why the work she and the rest of the team does is so important!

If you’re interested in health and like the sound of what Bell Health does, we’d love for you to join us! Our steering group meets monthly and always welcomes new members – please get in touch with [email protected].

What is your role as a volunteer?

I coordinate the Bell Health project, where we host insightful and accessible talks about a range of health topics. Once our steering group have decided on a topic, I help source experts to speak at the event. I usually contact local and national charities relevant to the topic to partner with and with whom we split any donations.

I've also helped to introduce social prescribing at Bell House, where health professionals can 'refer' people to us to engage in a social activity like gardening or quilting. Good company really can make a huge difference to mental and physical wellbeing.

How long have you been involved with Bell House?

I’ve volunteered at Bell House for about 18 months. I got involved shortly after moving to London.

What do you do away from Bell House?

When not working or volunteering, I’m usually out and about with friends. I enjoy art galleries and live music. I’m also a keen swimmer and love getting out of the city when I can – like to the alpaca farm in my photo!

What do you think you bring to Bell House as a volunteer and what do you get out of it?

Volunteering at Bell House gives me an opportunity to feel like I am having a positive impact in the community. I’m passionate about empowering people to be aware of their health and I am proud of the work we do! I think I bring enthusiasm and hopefully some good ideas here and there…!

What is the best project or event you’ve been involved with at Bell House?

I’ve been involved in the organisation of lots of interesting talks at Bell House. Some personal favourites include online talks on PMS and on miscarriage.

What have you been working on recently?

I have recently been involved in the Big Give campaign, where we successfully raised £4,000 to fund the commissioning of educational Bell Health films. We have previously commissioned films around what to expect when you start your periods and about cervical cancer screening, which you can see on Bell House's YouTube channel. By making films, we can reach many more people than with live events and so they are a great way of promoting health.

Are there any forthcoming projects, events or initiatives that you are particularly excited about?

I'm very excited to be putting on a second event about periods for young people. We first put this event on in 2019 and it was really successful! Starting your period can be a daunting time and so equipping young people with an understanding of what's happening and what to expect can be really beneficial. We're hoping this can be a recurring event every few years going forward.

Volunteer profile – James

It’s all systems go on this year’s Big Give campaign and what better way to tell you more and encourage you to get involved than to ask one of our very own fundraising enthusiasts to answer our questions and tell you about their work. Enter James! James belongs to the DOG group (you’ll see…!) and here he sheds some light on what the group have been doing over the past few months and how their work is vital to keeping Bell House up and running for all to enjoy.

What is your role as a volunteer?

I work with the team that pursues any funding opportunities that go towards supporting the wide range of activities on offer and the upkeep of the building itself. Officially, we’re donations or grants but, affectionately, we’re known as the DOG group ... We will follow any lead!

How long have you been involved with Bell House? 

Officially, I’ve been involved with the group since early 2020 and it’s included a lot of Zoom calls, but I first came into contact as a delegate – in a physical rather than virtual capacity – on a film-making for charities course back in 2018.

What do you do away from from Bell House? 

Away from Bell House, I have fingers in several pies (both literally and metaphorically). I run a social enterprise called The Let’s Cook Project that seeks to facilitate improved outcomes through improved practical cookery skills and better nutritional knowledge. Alongside this, I support my partner with a riding school and livery business and 2022 should, hopefully, see me completing a Masters in Voluntary Sector Management. Less cerebral is a later-found interest in running, although lately my time has been occupied by a litter of stinky Labrador puppies!

What do you think you bring to Bell House as a volunteer and what do you get out of it?

The focus of the MSc this year has been on marketing and fundraising, The Let’s Cook Project is a social enterprise and not a full charity, so its been great to be able to apply very theoretical learning to a real world situation. It’s relatively early days for the DOG group, not helped by recent events, but we hope to be able to provide support for those running such an amazing and vital range of activities under the Bell House banner. Sometimes its hard to find the fun in fundraising, but seeing the impact that is driven by such passionate people certainly helps with fighting the fight.

What have you been working on recently?

Right now we’ve got the final push for this year’s Big Give campaign. Bell House has had some great success with this in previous years with support for the Dyslexia programme and the wildlife pond in the gardens. This year we’re raising funds to support production of more Bell Health films, which tackle some of the subjects that you may want to know about but are, perhaps, too shy to ask about. At a time when even getting access to a GP requires a herculean effort, they can offer sage advice from experts in their fields and reassurance when it is most needed.

You can find out more about Bell Health here and to support this year’s campaign go to the Big Give’s website. The best bit is that, thanks to the generosity of the Reed Foundation, when we reach our very conservative target they’ll match it £ for £!

Are there any forthcoming projects, events or initiatives that you are particularly excited about?

Working on the Big Give campaign this year has seen collaboration between the Bell Health team, the marketing team and our own DOG group. Hopefully this is just the start of a range of projects that bring Bell House volunteers together, especially when so many of us have been physically distanced for so long. There are lots of exciting things in the pipeline, which we’ll be shouting about soon, so keep your eyes and ears open for more. One of the hardest parts of fundraising is conveying to a funder the benefits of the work that we’re asking them to support. We always welcome stories and anecdotes about what benefits volunteering at Bell House brings both for the volunteers themselves and the people impacted by that work. We’d love to share these over a cuppa and definitely some biscuits (we are the DOG group, after all)!