The people's voice of Greater Manchester

Reception manager/Building host

Chrysoula - 20th January 2022

Free balcony greening workshops are happening across Greater Manchester to create ‘mini wildlife havens’

Emily Sergeant Sky Gardening Challenge

Free balcony greening workshops are happening across Greater Manchester this spring to help people create their own ‘mini wildlife havens’.

While many Greater Manchester residents would love to have a garden of their own, that’s sadly not always the reality if they live in a flat or apartment complex, but instead they may have a balcony – in fact, it’s believed that there are around 60,000 balconies across the region, which adds up to the size of a whopping 33 football pitches.

That’s why the National Trust is on a mission to help city dwellers create their own green spaces through its ‘Sky Gardening Challenge’.

The conservation charity is encouraging people with balconies to ‘grow and green’ the town or city they live in from skyline spaces such as balconies, in the hopes that it’ll enhance their connection to nature and improving their wellbeing, all while helping wildlife thrive at the same time.

Greening a balcony space could apparently support 1.4 million meals for pollinators, like Manchester‘s beloved bees.

To help people get started on their greening mission and create their own wildlife haven, the National Trust is offering a free balcony gardening guide, free seeds, and free workshops in collaboration with lots of brilliant community organisations across the region – including Hulme Community Garden Centre, Plant CIC, and Northern Lily.

A number of workshops are also being ran this month with Cloud Gardener – a Manchester local, and a well-known face of the balcony gardening world.

With the first workshop in the lineup taking place tomorrow (15 May) and the final one on 7 June, there’s something for everyone to join in with, no matter where you are on your balcony greening journey, from classes in ‘Balcony Basics’ to ‘Edible Growing’, ‘Urban Farming’, and so much more.

And the best bit? All the workshops are free to take part in.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Manchester Flower Festival (@mcrflowerfest)

“The impact of our balcony garden extends beyond its small size,” explained a 2024 National Trust Sky Gardening Challenge participant. “It serves as a peaceful retreat for us, offering a place to relax and reconnect with nature. We are lucky to be looking out to such a lush green space right outside of our balcony.”

Another previous participant commented: “The workshops and socials helped me get started and motivated me to do it as I have had lots of health problems, and I had lost the will to do it.

“I felt very tired at first, but now I can spend an hour or so everyday day, and I love sitting in my garden listening the birds or even just the wind blowing through the trees.”

Find out more and book yourself onto a free workshop on the National Trust website here.

Featured Image – National Trust

Chester Zoo has been given £4m lottery funding to ‘transform’ the local environment

Emily Sergeant Chester Zoo nature

Chester Zoo has been awarded a £4 million grant of lottery funding to help ‘transform’ the local environment.

Merely months after being named the UK’s best zoo for the second year running, thanks to receiving more than 11,000 ‘excellent’ reviews from TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has now been awarded a whopping £4 million – £4,073,372 in total – by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support its Networks for Nature initiative.

The Networks for Nature initiative is described as being an ‘ambitious project’ to restore wildlife habitats across the Cheshire and wider North West region.

The funds will be used to either create or restore 20 ponds, nearly 3,000 metres of hedgerow, and more than 100 hectares of habitat.

Chester Zoo has been given £4m lottery funding to ‘transform’ the local environment / Credit: Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo helping the Cheshire countryside to flourish — Chester Zoo has been given £4m lottery funding to ‘transform’ the local environment / Credit: Chester Zoo

4,500 students will also be able to take part in year-long school projects to improve their school grounds for wildlife and people through the grants – which have been made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players – while 90 young people will have the chance to be trained in an environmental leadership course.

On top of this, 14 new jobs will also be funded through the money, 18 community groups will be worked closely with to improve their outdoor spaces for natural heritage, and the zoo’s network of trained ‘Wildlife Champions’ will continue to be supported.

Hannah Brooks, who is the Senior Community Participation & Engagement Manager at Chester Zoo, said The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant was a ‘massive boost’ for the zoo’s community groups.

“As a charity, we’re so grateful that this funding has come through,” she commented.

“This is an exciting moment for the project, there has been a lot of work behind-the-scenes to bring people together and find out what these community groups need to take action to improve spaces for wildlife and people, and now, we will be able to support people to make real change across a vast landscape.

“This could really transform things for the environment in Cheshire and for the people who live here.

“Individual action can be difficult, but collectively we can inspire each other and provide a network that will keep having impact long into the future.”

Featured Image – Chester Zoo