Martineau Gardens Spring Celebration
Saturday 13 May 2023, 11am – 3pm
£4 adults, £1 children
Come join us at our family-friendly green fete on Saturday 13 May (11am until 3pm). Enjoy live music, delicious food and family friendly activities, all in the grounds of our beautiful community garden. Wander around local stalls, the creators’ market, find out about gardening, hear our latest news. Stock up on plants and produce. Wildlife activities for children. There will be delicious homemade food and cakes for sale. Join in with traditional fete games, drop into the Storytellers Tent and enjoy a tale or two and have fun with the family. All funds raised contribute to Martineau Gardens.
Live Music
We so pleased to share the news that Moseley Village Band will be in residence, performing their lively repertoire of traditional music from 12noon, and don’t miss the afternoon slot from Rigmareel, playing irish music. We’re really grateful to the musicians who give up their time for free to play for us, so please show them your support with lots of cheers.
Moseley Village Band was set up to give the chance for local musicians to play traditional music in harmony, in the style of village bands from the 17th and 18th centuries, and welcomes a range of instruments, both traditional and modern. Band member, Nicola, says, “We are lucky enough to have concertinas, fiddles, recorders, trombone and even a Renaissance-style bass curtal among the instruments in the band. The music we play is generally traditional English, although our repertoire also includes some tunes from around the British Isles and even Scandinavia, and you may notice one or two more modern tunes ‘in the tradition’ included as well. The band practise locally in Moseley twice a month, and enjoy the opportunity to perform at Martineau Gardens, having been coming along for many years. We are looking forward to being back for this special event!”
Makers and Creators Market
Handmade crafts for sale by locally based eco businesses and organisations – be sure to pop in and visit to pick up a treat for yourself or a friend – cash and card sales welcomed (but sorry, no cash point at Martineau Gardens). Come and talk to local creators and find out more about their crafts, buy direct from the producer. Caroline Percivale creates delicate and skillful watercolour paintings. Inspired by nature, Naomi and Rob (www.thegoblinspocket.com) create felted crafts and sculptures. Mushrooms and whimsical wonders are a fascination of theirs which shows throughout their work. The duo can usually be found trading on the canals throughout the West Midlands, but occasionally come onto dry land to sell at fayres! You can expect to find cold cast bronze mushroom lamps, 2D and 3D needle felt creations and framed pen sketches on ecodye canvas. Be sure to visit the beautiful stall of talented Ronni Diggins Pottery – Ronni’s sculptures will take your breath away.www.instagram.com/ronniediggins New to the Market this year, we’re joined by Handmade Creative Crafts by Jane xx: Jane creates handmade plant based candles with wood and cotton wicks and in re-usable, re-fillable tins and bowls. The fragrances and colours are all naturally based with no chemical elements and safe to burn.
Community Stalls
Find out what’s going on in your local community – come and meet: Birmingham Friends of the Earth who will have activities connected to ‘Save Our Soil campaign.’ ‘South Birmingham Tools for Africa will be selling garden tools at the event. All tools have been donated locally and all proceeds are sent to Tools for Self-Reliance to fund apprenticeship programmes in five African nations.; Kings Heath Shed share skills and knowledge, and make, re-purpose or mend things – have a chat with them if you’d like to find out more.
The Compost Connection CIC will be here to answer all your questions about composting. Learn how to compost ALL your food waste safely using bokashi method, and how to make your composter pest-free. Thanks to funding from the Birimingham Food Legends Fund, they will have bokashi kits and rat proofing kits for ‘dalek’ composters to give away on a pay-as-you-feel basis.
Be sure to visit Darren at the Eden Project stall, he will have packets of seeds for you for Plant and Share Month.
The Eden Project is an educational charity and social enterprise, connecting people with the natural world and each other. Through their flagship project, The Big Lunch, and programme of events, Eden Project Communities supports ordinary people to do extraordinary things as they build their skills and confidence to create positive change where they live. They offer continued support for anyone wishing to do more in their communities through the Network, online workshops and Community Camps.
Storytellers
Come and visit the Storytellers Tent with the Traditional Arts Team and enjoy traditional stories for children of all ages, with local Storytelling Studio. Drop in and drop out for fabulous fun!
Support your local community garden!
About Martineau Gardens
When the city council-run environmental centre closed in 1997, a group of local people came together to create a community garden that would stay open for free, for the public of Birmingham to visit and care for. Supporters included former staff, neighbours, Birmingham Friends of the Earth and members of the Martineau family. Today our Martineau Gardens is a thriving independently run charity and one of the longest running Community Gardens in Birminghame: volunteers (many of whom have mental health issues and learning disabilities) care for the Gardens, hundreds of school children come to learn about the environment and Birmingham people (now in their thousands) visit the Gardens annually.
You can find out more about our history here.
Profits raised from the Spring Celebration help to keep these beautiful gardens open for free and enable the Therapeutic Horticulture Programme to continue. Spread the word and invite your friends and family!
Getting to the Event:
There is a small car park at the Gardens. We have limited spaces reserved for disabled parking – if on arrival these are full, please be prepared to be dropped off and any vehicles parked at Priory Hospital. Public parking for the event is over the road, at the Priory Hospital, by kind permission. Please drive to the rear of the car park, to the area that adjoins the Elmhurst School of Dance (follow the signs). Approx 100 spaces.
We recommend that you consider the green option and travel by public transport to the event. Martineau Gardens is well served by buses. The nearest bus routes are Priory Road: 1; Bristol Road: 61, 63; Pershore Road: 45, 47 . To plan your journey by public transport, visit www.traveline.info and use the Martineau Gardens’ postcode, B5 7UG.
Cyclists: we have a covered bike shed – on arrival in the carpark, head for the right hand side, dismount and walk to the end of the track.
Admission:
Tickets on the gate: £4 adults, £1 for children (2 years and over).
Check back here regularly, follow us on social media – or sign up to receive our News and Events emails for updates.