Growing a community programme

Just as the global pandemic was coming to an end, we embarked on a 3-year local journey to develop, pilot and embed a new community programme at Chiswick House & Gardens Trust. Harvinder Kaur Bahra, our Community Participation Manager, looks back at how we ‘grew’ a community programme to create a thriving space of activity, engagement and wellbeing for more than 9000 members of the local community over the last three years.

The beginning – 2021

In 2021 we were fortunate to receive funding from The Linbury Trust. This funding was vital, and provided what we needed to build a sustained community programme. The timing couldn’t have been more poignant. The pandemic had highlighted how important access to green spaces were for people in times of uncertainty, and we knew the potential of the gardens lay in sharing them with those who needed them the most. We needed to co-create a shared programme of activity, wellbeing and belonging, that would meet the needs of the community and establish CHGT as an active community partner, and a valuable local resource.

The aims

The pandemic crisis highlighted the importance of accessible outdoor spaces and participatory activity in supporting both physical and mental wellbeing. It also showcased how our natural and heritage assets could effectively address everyday challenges faced by people right across Hounslow, including isolation, loneliness, unemployment, food poverty and a disconnect from and lack of access to nature. The aims of the programme were simple and grew from the needs of our communities: to connect people to nature; improve mental health and wellbeing; and build communities’ confidence to visit and access Chiswick House & Gardens as a local resource.

The community and the activity

The focus of the community programme was to engage audiences who were under-represented and underserved. We needed to acknowledge the vast diversity of Hounslow and West London (culturally, socially and economically), and recognise that many local people face barriers to engaging with us, whether these are a lack of confidence, awareness and opportunity, or deeper issues of poor mental or physical health, poverty, disabilities. unemployment, and/or lack of means. It was important that the potential of these beautiful gardens be shared with those who needed them most.

And that’s exactly what we have been doing over the past 3 years. Working with groups to create opportunities to enjoy our green spaces together, learn about nature and get involved in gardening, cooking with us, being creative, overall create a responsive and meaningful community programme that benefits & enriches our community groups. Working with a wide variety of local groups – community initiatives and neighbourhood  charities in West London, to refugee groups, mental health charities, support groups, low-income families, carers groups, people living with dementia, bereavement organisations, diaspora groups, youth clubs, SEN groups. Groups that supporting some the most vulnerable members of the community. And slowly, but steadily, building our Schools offer with local schools.

The Methodology

Our methodology has been simple. We have focussed on building strong partnerships, getting to know our groups and group leaders well, understanding who they support, what their needs are, and how working together can enrich what they are already doing, or create opportunities that don’t exist. Together with the group leaders we have co-developed projects to meet the needs and interests of the groups, working closely with local practitioners, artists and facilitators and our Garden Team to deliver these projects. These co-developed projects make use of the gardens and the house in multiple ways. They inspire creativity, they bring groups closer to nature, and develop gardening skills and improve confidence & wellbeing. They also deepen our own understanding of the collections and plants. Many of these community projects enable the sharing of lived experiences and cultural and inherited knowledge, allowing learning to go both ways, and to see our history and heritage through new voices. (See below for a list of projects.)

The Learning

The learning from 3 years of engagement, building partnerships and co-developing projects has been immense. But the key one has been around partnership building. Community engagement takes time and genuine co-creation takes even more time. Focusing on building strong partnerships, rather than the scale of activity, has meant partnerships can be sustained beyond a project. Focusing on building quality partnerships rather than a quantity of partnerships has meant deeper partnerships that become embedded. Working with groups repeatedly will strengthen these relationships and once community partners become comfortable visiting, feel welcomed and familiar with the gardens, they will continue to visit.

We’ve learned to listen to group leaders – they know their group members the best – but to also challenge with new ideas and projects to push expectations. Working with local artists, creatives and practitioners has built a wonderful network of local partnerships that enriches the community. The community has as much to teach us about the gardens, plants and heritage and as we have to share with them. Finally, we’ve learned that community engagement will enrich the whole organization. Staff, garden team and volunteers will grow in confidence, engage more, and over time will become key advocates for the programme.

The next 3 years

All this engagement leads to more engagement and more activity. Groups have gone from being cautious & nervous to engaged and wanting to use the Learning Centre for their own self-led activity. Their own meetings, gatherings, coffee mornings and projects. They feel comfortable and at ease here. They feel a genuine sense of belonging, and joy being in these beautiful surroundings, which they want to share with others. The journey has been truly transformative!

As we came to the end of Year 3, The Linbury Trust confirmed funding for another 3 years. Now, as we move into Year 4 of the Growing Together at Chiswick community programme, the aim to engage those who are underrepresented and underserved is threaded throughout the organisation, with co-design, local partnerships and inclusion at the centre of our decision-making and future development plans. We will continue to maintain, expand and pilot activities that improve the wellbeing, confidence and connectedness to nature of our local community, schools and volunteers as we prepare for a planned expansion into the new Community & Creative Campus’s Learning Hub and Volunteer facilities. The commitment is to build a thriving and innovative community, learning and volunteer programme to share and celebrate well into 2026 and onwards.

Thank you

The Growing Together at Chiswick House community programme would not be possible with the generous funding of The Linbury Trust, who believed in our vision to create a thriving community programme and whose repeat funding will help us to continue the work we started and further sustain, nurture and expand the partnerships and programme. We’d also like to say thank you to the incredible team of facilitators, artists and practitioners, the dedicated staff and volunteers at CHGT and to finally to the amazing community group leaders, who give their time and trust we can do amazing work when we come together, that can enrich and improve the lives of our local community.

Some examples of activity from the ‘Growing Together at Chiswick House’ community programme: