Oral History Project
The growth of the UK’s city farming and community gardening movement, from the 1960s to the modern day, is being recorded as part of an oral history project for FCFCG. It is the first time the development of the movement has been documented in this way.
The project has been funded by an award of £34,500 made by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) under the Your Heritage scheme. And it's hoped the work will inspire even more local people to become involved in community farming and gardening.
Since the early days in the 1960s, when a few groups of local people came together to convert patches of derelict land for gardening, there are now more than 120 city farms and school farms, nearly 1,000 community gardens and a growing number of community-managed allotments. They help to empower people of all ages and backgrounds to build better communities, often in deprived areas.
During the course of the project, 20 witness seminars will be held around the UK, when stalwarts from long-established city farms and community gardens will recall their experiences, both the highs and the lows, and reflect on the benefits that have been created for local people. A number of one-to-one interviews will also be held, particularly in South West England, while copies of documents and photographs charting the movement's history will be collected to create an archive.
At the end of the project, a full summary of the findings will be placed on the FCFCG website. A celebration event will also take place in Bristol.
As part of the project, FCFCG has created a toolkit to help local community groups document their own history. To find out more about this resource, see the information below.
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A one year Heritage Lottery funded project focusing on the physical, social and cultural heritage of city farms and community gardens since their inception in the 1960s. Their development will also be linked to the historical origins of allotments and the progress of school farms since their beginnings in the inter-war years. |
Witness Seminar Toolkit
Your history: A toolkit for organising and running witness seminars
Many groups will already have an archive of documents and photographs, but have you considered asking for people's memories of how the project came about and what prompted them to become involved in its development? Perhaps you would like to know what successes and challenges they have seen and what changes they have participated in, or what their hopes and aspirations are for the future.
One way to do that is to hold a witness seminar, or group interview, where you bring people together to talk about your project informally. The session is facilitated by a Chair to ensure that everyone is included and that you cover all the areas relevant to your project.
We have produced a toolkit which sets out everything you need to know to record the history of your project and recognise the achievements of those involved both past and present, for the benefit of those joining in the future. See Read More below for details.
The first 20 projects running a witness seminar are eligible for help towards funding the event of £300, to cover room hire, refreshments and any transport costs. If you want more details or would like help in organising a seminar and would like Tracy to chair a session at your project please contact her on email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel 0798 6710 213.
A bit of history
Communities growing food together is not a new thing. All early agricultural systems seemed to have been co-operative activities, with land, tools and harvest all shared. However, as cultures have developed, ownership of land has tended fall into fewer hands.
This concentration of control does, in fact, affect almost all areas of life - not just land ownership.
During the 1960s the growth of community action escalated, in part as a reaction against this lack of control and access to resources. Many communities set up projects such as youth clubs, under-fives groups, tenant or resident associations, community centres and elderly projects.
Similarly, some groups around the country saw some derelict land in their neighbourhood and decided that it should be used as a community garden - a place that is run by the community to meet their own needs. Part of the inspiration for this was the growth of the community garden movement in the United States.
Over the years more and more community gardens were established, although many depended on short-term lease agreements or indeed squatting.
In 1972 the first city farm was established in Kentish Town, London. This larger project not only included gardening space but also farm animals, influenced by the children's farm movement in the Netherlands.
