The Southall Orchard Project is a community led initiative aimed at planting fruiting orchards throughout Southall. The goal is to have at least five publicly accessible orchards in place by 2020.

Following on from the successful implementation of the first community orchard in Southall Park last year, we are now on the verge of implementing phase 2 of the project at Southall Recreation Ground.

On Wednesday 1^st March 2017, parents, children and teachers from local children’s centres and nearby schools will help plant the first batch of up to 45 fruit trees which will include multiple varieties of apples, pears, plums, damsons and more. Additionally, a variety of fruiting hedges (supplied by the Tree Council) will also be planted.

The orchard will then be completed with help from the wider community and Ealing Council’s Park Rangers on Saturday 4^th March, 10am-3pm with an official ‘opening’ by the Mayor of Ealing Cllr. Dr. Patricia Walker. All are welcome to attend.

The planting event coincides with the ‘Great British Spring Clean Up’ so there will also be a litter pick around the park.

If you would like to help plant the orchard, you can reserve your place by sending an expression of interest to info@southalltransition.org (this is not compulsory but would be appreciated).

Volunteers are asked to ensure that they wear sturdy foot wear and dress appropriate for the weather. Tools will be provided. All volunteers will also receive free refreshments.

Southall Recreation Ground is accessible from Recreation Rd, The Common, Tachbrook Rd and Florence Rd UB2.

‘Incredible Edible’ is a very successful community led urban food growing scheme which began in the market town of Todmorden in the north of England. From humble beginnings in 2007, the scheme has spread far and wide resulting in numerous Incredible Edible food growing sites across the globe.

This year we have joined forces with Ealing Transition in an attempt to bring Incredible Edible to west London. We were delighted to have Pam Warhust from Incredible Edible as our keynote speaker on Thursday 26th January at the Dominion Centre in Southall.

You can learn more about Incredible Edible at http://incredibleediblenetwork.org.uk/

This event took place at:

The Dominion Centre, 112 The Green, Southall, UB2 4BQ.

The Bixley Triangle is a small area next to the Grand Union Canal near the Bixley Field allotments. For many years, the Triangle had been overgrown and frequented by drug users and rough sleepers.

In 2013, Greenfields Children’s Centre artists-in-residence, Rosie Potter and Kirstie Reid, put forward a proposal to transform the triangle by clearing it and placing sculptures there. In 2015 Southall Transition, having heard about this proposal, decided we would help to make it a reality.

Consequently, following talks with Catalyst Housing, the Metropolitan Police, Ealing Park Rangers, Greenfields Children’s Centre, Hope for Southall Street Homeless, The Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail Group and the Canal & River Trust, the area was recently cleared and levelled.

Photo by Andre Rungen

On Tuesday 10th May, we joined our partners to finish the clean up process before reseeding the area with help from children from Greenfields Children’s Centre and regulars from Southall Community Garden.

It was a very wet day so we were pleasantly surprised at the good turn out. We were informed that the weather was actually perfect for reseeding. The Norwood Green councillors, Cllr Rajinder Mann, Cllr Gurmit Mann and Cllr Mohammad Aslam also came along and helped to plant the first of three fruit trees which were graciously donated by the Hangot group.

We are also considering planting some fruiting hedges and still hope to see the sculptures materialise at some point in the not too distant future.

Southall Transition are very grateful to all our partners and volunteers for helping to transform this site for the benefit of the community.

On 5th March 2016 we successfully completed phase 1 of the Southall Orchard Project. The Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Harbhajan Kaur Dheer returned to unveil a new ‘interpretation board’. We were also joined by the Mayor’s consort and Deputy Leader of Ealing Council, Cllr Ranjit Dheer,  Varendra Sharma, MP for Ealing Southall, Dr Onkar Sahota, GLA member for Ealing and Hillingdon and Cllr Swarn Kang

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In addition to help from the Ealing Park Rangers and the Tree Council, we were again joined by Southall Community Alliance for this final stage of planting. The real stars however were the many local people who came from all over Southall and nearby towns. Luckily the damp weather did not dampen the mood of those who attended and actually had great fun working together in an outdoor setting. It was particularly uplifting to see so many young and elderly people showing the way, in how communities can look after their towns and environments.

Susan Wyatt, Community Champions Coordinator at Ealing Council runs the ‘Tree Warden’ scheme for the borough. She said “there was a lot of camaraderie and fun to be had in just a few hours” and “what a legacy to leave to future generations!”.

As a result of every ones efforts, Southall Park now boasts 44 fruit/nut trees and over 2000 fruiting hedges of various varieties. We now look forward to seeing the community benefit when it becomes time to harvest.

The Southall Park Orchard nears completion. On 6th February more fruiting hedges were planted in another section of the park. These were complimented by apple and pear trees. Thanks again to all our fantastic volunteers.

Phase one of the Southall Orchard Project will be completed on 5th March 2016. The Mayor of Ealing, Harbhajan Kaur Dheer will return for the official opening of the community orchard.

Please join us at Southall Park from 11am. Registered volunteers will receive free refreshments.

Saturday 23rd January 2016

On Saturday 23rd January our volunteers were hard at work again. The next phase in the creation of the Southall Park Orchard entailed the planting of shrubs around the periphery of Villiers High School and their Multi Use Games Area. Students from the school were on hand to assist.

What’s Next?

The Southall Park Community Orchard is now well under way but not yet complete. More trees are coming to Southall Park. The next planting days are on:

Saturday 6th February 2016, 11am.

A large number of fruit trees and fruiting hedges will be planted.

Saturday 5^th March 2016, 11am.

Phase one of the Southall Orchard Project will be completed and the Southall Park Community Orchard will be officially opened by The Mayor of Ealing and other dignitaries. A new ‘interpretation board’ will also be unveiled. We expect over a hundred people to attend this event.

Pauline Buchanan Black, Lord Anthony Young, Cllr Bassam Mafouz and Cllr Julian Bell help the Mayor plant a mulberry tree. (Photo by James Morton)

On 5th December 2015 Southall Park was the venue for the planting of our first community orchard making the Southall Orchard Project a tangible reality.

The windy conditions did not deter the incredibly enthusiastic  volunteers. Over a hundred people, most of them local, turned up to help.  Cllr Julian Bell, Leader of the Council said “There was a real show of community spirit”.

In addition to help from Ealing Park Rangers and The Tree Council, we were also joined by members of  Southall Community Alliance , HANGOT, Ealing Council’s cabinet, local councillors and Dr Onkar Sahota of the London Assembly.

Pauline Buchanan Black, from The Tree Council enthusiastically declared  “The energy present could have powered half the national grid!”

By the end of the day the crowd had planted hawthorn, rosa rugosa, blackcurrants, raspberries, redcurrant, gooseberries, plum, apple, vine, kiwi and a number of fruit trees in the vicinity of the old rose garden.

Jitin Dixit, owner of Subway Southall presented a cheque for £1000 to help further the project.

Cll Bassam Mahfouz, Cllr Ranjit Dheer, Cllr Julian Bell, Dr Onkar Sahota and Jitin Dixit join the Mayor as she prepares to cut the ceremonial ribbon. (photo by Wendy Ho)

In addition to planting fruiting hedges and trees, many of those present joined the Sikh Scouts and members of Southall Transition’s ‘Community Clean Up’ group on a litter pick around the park.

The Community Clean Up Group in action. (Photo by James Morton)

Following a brief speech from our Business Liaison Manager, Jags Sanghera, the orchard was officially opened by the Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Harbhajan Kaur Dheer.

Jags Sanghera addresses the crowd. (photo by James Morton)

What’s Next?

The Southall Park Community Orchard is now well underway but not yet complete. More trees are coming to Southall Park. The next planting day is Saturday 23rd January 2016. We will again meet by the globe at 11am.

To learn more about the Southall Orchard Project and get involved, please click here.

What is a Disco Soup?
Disco Soup is an international grassroots movement to raise awareness of food waste. Disco Soup originates from Slow Food Youth Germany, who devised the concept – “Schnippel Disko” – preparing otherwise-wasted vegetables within a party-like atmosphere, which has since been replicated from Paris to Nairobi to New York. Disco Soup events have the goal of shedding light on the food waste problem, sensitizing people and having fun through cooking with food that would otherwise have gone to waste, sharing food, having fun and listening to music.

The closest Disco soup which has been held was in Kilburn in Brent. It brought together about 150 people from across the community. In the UK, food waste campaigner, Tristram Stuart has been an advocate of holding Disco Soup events in order to help get the community thinking about food waste.

We agree with Tristram, so were delighted when our friends at ‘The Rubbish Diet‘ approached us with a plan to raise awareness of this important issue. On 24th October we joined forces to hold our own Disco Soup. However, this being Southall, we thought it was good to put a bhangra spin on things.

The aim of the event was:

• To raise awareness of the problem of food waste and the need to think about what food we all throw away.
• To network the community so that good food which is being thrown away locally by retailers might be able to go to local charitable groups that could use it.
• Get people talking about food waste in the Southall community.
• Get local authority information and messages out to local residents about how to recycle food properly and increase food waste recycling in Southall.
• Hold a fun community event which brings the community together on an important issue.

On Saturday 13th June people came together to ‘Bring & Share’ ideas, experiences, passion, skills and – let’s not forget – food & drink.

At Southall Transition we believe the community has the power to solve many of its own problems. On the day, groups emerged around the themes that were identified from the feedback at the Grand Launch in March. These groups began to explore practical steps towards tackling issues such as food-growing, tree-planting, healthy lifestyles and more.

To find out more about these groups and how to get involved, make sure you’re signed up to receive our mailings.

We’re grateful for the use of St John’s Community Hall in Havelock Road for this event.

The Grand Launch of Southall Transition took place n Sunday 22 March. We took over the Dominion Centre with activities, information and food. The programme was as follows:

Workshops from 2.30pm

• Dr Bike – bike repair and maintenance (bring your bike for a free tune-up)
• Seed sowing
• Arts and crafts
• Clothes upcycling
• Healthy snacks
• Secondary glazing for windows
• Bread making

Programme from 5.00pm

• Official opening by Cllr Tej Bagha, Mayor of Ealing
• Presentations
• Drama
• Interactive discussion

Free vegetarian dinner from 7.00pm

The following groups and organisations were also in attendance:

A Rocha UK, Catalyst Housing, Ealing Council, Ealing Transition, Friends of the Earth, Hanwell & Norwood Green Orchard Trail, the Metropolitan Police, the Rubbish Diet and the Selborne Society.

The Grand Launch took place at the Dominion Centre,112 The Green, Southall, UB2 4BQ.