Here’s a short video showing the Meadow today in all its beauty:

You’re invited to a COMMUNITY PICNIC at the North Kelvin Meadow (G20) on Sunday 18th July 2010 from 2pm (and onwards into the afternoon).

You’ll need to bring food and drink to share, and things to sit on (rugs, chairs, etc). There will be music and bands, fun and games, a bric-a-brac stall, and lots of your friends and neighbours from the area. So come along and meet up!

There will be information about the campaign to stop the development on the Meadow too, and you’ll get to see our lovely Meadow at its best (hopefully the sun will be shining!).

If you’d like to help organise the event, or want to bring along some bric-a-brac for the stall, leave a comment (with a link to your email address) on this article and we’ll be in contact or email northkelvinmeadow@gmail.com

We can’t wait to see you there!

You can find more information at:

www.facebook.com/northkelvinmeadow

www.thebiglunch.com

Interesting article which relates closely with what we’re doing here at the North Kelvin Meadow. Click here to read it in full.

Extract: “The television presenter and author said people need to ‘get noisy’ and force councils to convert unused land like disused car parks or building sites into new plots.Nothing seems to happen in this country any more unless you’re a bit renegade about it,” he said. ”If gardeners want more plots they should all get together. It was the same with my campaign for school dinners.People thought their voice couldn’t make a difference. But the minute people got together, things started to happen.” Mr Oliver said councils that drag their feet could be breaking the law ”There is an old law which states that if there is civic land that’s not being used, and all allotments are full, then they must hand it over,” he said. “Councils have a lot to deal with. So gardeners need to shout loud and clear.”

He’s opening a restaurant at G1 off George Square in July 2010, so perhaps he’ll lend support to us?

North Kelvin Meadow Campaign

now has a regular meeting time.

Meet at the meadow every 2^nd and 4th Sunday at 2pm (rain or shine!)

Dates for your diary:

12 Sept

26 Sept

10 Oct

24 Oct

14 Nov

28 Nov

12 Dec

9 Jan 2011

There will be a number of activities suitable for all ages and abilities to get involved in including:

• Painting
• Litter-picking
• Digging
• Planting
• Creating signage

…or just come along and have a cuppa and some home-made cake, get to know your neighbours and find out what you can do to save this great piece of green space from development. We will provide all equipment including gardening gloves and litter pickers as well as delicious refreshments.

We look forward to seeing you.

Come along and help get the Meadow in shape for this summer! Event starts at 2pm Sunday 25th April 2010.

Various activities: painting, planting seed, digging, litter pickup, compost heap re-construction etc

We’ll have some things but it would help if you could bring anything that could help with the above activtities as we’ve run out of money! If not am sure we’ll find a way. Do wear old clothes and bring some gloves. Kids should be accompanied by an adult.

Even if you can only spare a short time, do come along and help local people keep this land as something we can all be proud of. The more we do, the more its used and this then helps with the reasons to keep the land as it is, rather than selling it for flats which is what the Council wants to do.

Join us on Saturday 27th March, from 2pm

To celebrate the launch of

GET DIGGING

in association with the

Royal Horticultural Society and Beautiful Scotland

Come and find out the latest on the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign allotments and community garden, meet your neighbours… and maybe even do some digging!

The new campaign supports people to embrace more sustainable lifestyles and make the most of their green spaces for recreation, food-growing, and community cohesion.

The North Kelvin Meadow is a 1.3 hectare site beside Kelbourne Street in the West End. Formerly playing fields, for two decades it lay abandoned, until in summer 2008, Glasgow City Council announced it would sell the site to a private developer to build 115 flats.

A survey organised by local people showed that the existing community overwhelmingly opposed the proposed development. A campaign group was formed to pursue an alternative vision for the site that all members of the local community could treasure – an inspiring green space incorporating allotments, a community orchard, a wild meadow and a small wood.

Since the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign began working on the space in October 2008, more than a hundred community activists, including school children, have been involved in the transformation and management of the site. The group has cleared the land of litter, started allotments and a community herb and vegetable garden, and established composting facilities, and a fledgling orchard and wild flower meadow.

Green open spaces in urban areas are vital for the health, well-being and quality of life of residents. For far too long, Glasgow City Council has favoured developers over communities when it comes to making use of the city’s most precious assets – its dear green places.

Thanks to all who came out last Saturday 30th January 2010 onto the Meadow for the “Do something for the Birds” event. In total 30 people came out (plus one photographer from Local News) and we put up 70+ fat ball and bird feeders. Here’s the result below of just one person’s (Emma) tally of the number and specie of bird in one corner of the Meadow – 13 different specie in total and 27 birds. Rules are they have to land on the Meadow and the count is within one hour. Results have gone off to the RSPB.

Woodpigeons 4      Bluetits  2      Magpies 2       Feral Pigeons  2      Crows 1      Blackbird 4      Sparrows 2     Great Tits  1      Robins 1      Goldfinches 2       Thrushes 2      Bullfinches 2     Long-tailed Tits  2

Do Something for the Birds!

The Big Garden Bird Watch Weekend 30-31st Jan

We’re mentioned a few times by various MSPs and we’d like to thank each of them for that.

The debate was entitled Allotments, Community Gardens and Grow-your-own Projects.

We’re a bit of everything of course. We have part of the land as allotments (via raised beds) but equally important for many is the Meadow in the centre part, and we also cater for bio-diversity via the small wood. Plus there’s our community compost bins, community fruit orchard (started with 10 bushes) and engagement with schools and local people. So it’s worth reading the debate as we’re actually doing what these guys are talking about.

Click here and you’ll find the debate about halfway down at col 22327.

Sandra White MSP (SNP) “………However, the recent experience of people in North Kelvin has not filled many in Glasgow with optimism. The council’s attempt to have the local people forcibly removed from the land that they have been using to grow their own food, without proper consultation or discussion of alternatives to the forcible removal of those people, goes directly against its stated aims. Although the council states in its strategy that it is guided by national legislation and public duties, it has acknowledged that, because of the archaic nature of the legislation on allotments, the statutory duty on local authorities to provide allotments is open to interpretation. Given that admission, I would be interested to know the minister’s interpretation of the duties on councils. I hope that she will also explain what recourse citizens would have if they believed that a local authority was not fulfilling those duties. If the minister accepts that the current legislation is open to interpretation, will she support a review of the legislation in order to address the uncertainties that exist not just in Glasgow but throughout Scotland?

Let us not forget that we are trying to empower individuals and local communities to provide for themselves and, as Jim Tolson has said, to teach future generations the essential skills of not just gardening but self-determination. Historically, due to many factors that warrant a separate debate, our sense of community and belonging has been eroded to such a point that many people now feel disconnected from the community in which they live. In areas such as those that we have spoken about in Jim Tolson’s constituency and in Glasgow, allotments can act as a focal point at which the community can come together and rediscover the values on which we in Scotland pride ourselves. That must also be seen as a fundamental aim of any national policy on the provision of green areas. “

Robert Brown MSP (Liberal) “……..It is worth considering the example of the North Kelvin Meadow and Clouston Street in the west end of Glasgow. A community group took over a disused green space and made it into a multi-use community space for the residents. They are not allotments, but there are raised beds, a fruit garden, composting facilities and a wild flower plantation. They have made an extremely good job of it and an area that was previously rather neglected is now attractive. Of course, in its wisdom, the city council has not taken the opportunity to move forward with the site; rather, it plans to sell the land, which is in an area of the city in which there is already substantial traffic congestion and a large number of tenemental properties, to a property developer. “

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green) ” I thank Jim Tolson for bringing this debate to the chamber today. I would like to reflect on a few of the issues that have been raised. Like other members, I was concerned to hear about what has happened in North Kelvin Meadows—it shows that we do not yet have the right mindset about allotments. I hope that more can be done to assist that group. …….”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Most people living in the city will have experienced seeing a fox at some point, but the other night really was quite unusual. I was walking through the Meadow late one night last week and took a short cut to see if the bin needed emptying. At first I thought it was a cat, but only about 7 feet away was a Fox. I immediately thought I must have been close to his (or her) cubs, but no sound came from Mr Fox, he just watched me. So I moved off slowly and he followed. I then took a wide walk round the Meadow and all the time the Fox was with me, sometimes 20 feet away , sometimes just 10 feet away. It was as if he was quite glad to see me and wanted to play. No doubt though looking for food. I had just seen the week before The Fantastic Mr Fox in the cinema and so believe me the similarity wasn’t wasted!