6 miraculous days of clement weather in the outscirts of London have brought a dedicated group of Garden Angels from all over the world close together for an open-air lab in a fabulous neglected space. The aim was to continue the great work of the Friends of Bedfords Park, but also to give the Walled Kitchen Garden a greater profile and prospect for attracting attention from locals and hopefully the Big Lottery Local Food Grant we will send the application for tomorrow with pictures of the Winter Garden Pavillion that was gracefully codesigned during the series of workshops. 

I don't know where to start without getting overly emotional except say this is more of a start than an ending. From developing friendships, to experiencing meaningful learnings, to doing some useful work in the derelict premises, all of this good energy will be renewable fuel for the regeneration story. In my mind this is a tangible representation of the Big Society concept. What is more, even ironical, is that getting our hands dirty felt quite cathartic! 

You can now find pictures of our little epic on flickr GARDEN_ANGELS_LAB. 

To you Garden Angels, It is very exciting to know that many of you have expressed interest in continuing work in havering but also generally with Clear-Village projects elsewhere. 

Thank you also to our facilitators and Havering Council, particularly to the Parks officials for giving us a big hand to make this happen. 

Looking forward to see the seeds of our toil flower. 

With gratitude from Imogen and I, 

Thomas Ermacora