Words by Amy Packham
By Tom Barwell-Best
Just up from Penryn High Street in Cornwall – tucked off the main road – you'll find St Gluvial Hall: a hub of community, creativity and sustainability.
In its garden, on Sunday mornings, volunteers get stuck into planting, weeding, and composting. The produce is free for people to take, trusting that the community wouldn't take more than they need.
This is an Incredible Edible group – part of a nationwide network across the UK, which aims to create kinder, more confident and connected communities through the power of food.
John, garden manager and member of Incredible Edible in Cornwall, explains: "The produce of the garden can be for the community, and that doesn't have to be the same individuals who do the work – the people that do the work do it to enjoy each others company and the joy of being outside."
Around 10 years ago, the St Gluvial Church, who owns the hall in Cornwall, came to the conclusion that it no longer had the funds to keep it open, and were considering selling it off.
John says the community put their heads together to brainstorm ways they could make it more sustainable, reducing the financial costs. "One of those was to transform the outdoor space," he says.
The Penryn community made use of the Incredible Edible model – which originally started in Todmodern, West Yorkshire – in an effort to save the hall.
Put simply, the model is to utilise disused land to grow your own food – and for the community aspect of growing together. It was a success for the Penryn community – and now, the optimum time for volunteers is in spring and summer, when most come down from university.
The community has done music events on the premises to raise money for Incredible Edible and the hall itself; the success leaving them with a residue of funds for buying compost and other gardening materials.
Another arm of creating a self-sustaining venue is The Olive Branch Cafe, who also make use of the fresh produce. Open to everyone, people can purchase affordable food and drink inside the community hall where the money raised goes towards the funding pot.
In addition to these cost-saving and money raising initiatives, the hall is kitted out with solar panels with storage batteries, along with a rain collection system which provides all the water they need for gardening.
The group have plans to reinvent the "sensory garden", as well as restore the accessible pathway that was installed by the council years ago, which has since deteriorated. There is plenty of work to be done, as well as the potential to collaborate for events – perhaps it'll inspire you to do something similar in your community?
