Young artists bring colour to York secret garden

With spring yet to be sprung, a small but hardy bunch of children and parents gathered in a bitterly cold Groves Secret Garden to add a splash of their own colour.

As part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and community arts project Creative Neighbours, the Community Paint Day aimed to brighten up the place, in The Groves, before any floral displays kick in. 

Charlotte Holgate, Dig In project assistant and organiser, explained that although plants such as the recently added lavender hedge would flower this year, they would take a long time to mature and add real impact.

To give the garden more colour in the short term, the community has been brought together to help by creating artwork around the space. “The idea is to encourage residents both young and old to take ownership of this space,” she said. “We want to to help people grow food, connect with this space and with their neighbours.”

Together with Catherine Walker, who takes creative responsibility for the artwork, they have found that there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the Big Lottery funded project. In fact, the Secret Garden is unusual in that it was the residents (through the Groves Residents Association) who asked for the project to be created, rather than the initiative being instigated by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. As a result, support for the project has been stronger.

Indeed, although the weather stayed true to cold form, youngsters from around the Groves were keen to get their hands on the paint – as you can see below, some literally!