environmental education and Skills PRogrammes For schools and communities
UP THE ALLOTMENTS!
Up the Allotments! is generously supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund
Loop Labs are delighted to present Up the Allotments! A brand new food and enviribmental heritage programme running from Spring through to Winter 2024. Created in partnership with Eastside Community Heritage and Eleanor Pearce Arts, there will be gardening workshops, a series of art classes and opportunities to share your local food stories.
Up the Allotments! celebrates the diverse and dynamic heritage in Newham. From the Dig for Victory campaign and Dr John Fothergill’s world-class plant collection, to the productive allotments and community gardens producing food and flowers from all over the world – Newham has a deep and delicious relationship to food.
To celebrate, we are offering an inspired array of FREE gardening workshops and art courses in Manor Park, Little Ilford and East Ham from April 2024 through to the winter. To sign up for Eleanor’s art classes, please reserve your place here on Eventbrite.
Please see Eventbrite links below for the Manor Park Community Garden and Reynolds Avenue Allotments gardening workshops.
We would also love to interview people to hear about and capture your local food stories. You can share your stories with Judith from Eastside Community Heritage by calling her on 07411536339.
Growing (and Eating) together in Little Ilford
The workshops at Reynolds Avenue Allotments were held on Saturday mornings at 10am. Our incredible gardener, Joanna Pidcock shared plenty of useful and practical learning in the fun and informative workshop sessions.
We have had a wonderful season delivering more than thirty-five growing workshops in Reynolds Avenue and Manor Park Community Garden.
Still to come is the Fungi Walk on Saturday 23rd November. Please contact iram@looplabs.org to attend.
MANOR PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN WORKSHOPS:
The Manor Park Community Garden Workshops ran weekly throughout Summer 2024.
Up the Allotments! is generously supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.
BREAKING GROUND / GROW TOGETHER
Delivering Social and Environmental Justice
In 2023, Loop Labs has provided mentoring for local leaders working on the Grow Together project. Grow Together is a community action and environmental justice project which has been trialled and supported by the Mayor of London in Newham, Camden, Ealing and Greenwich.
In the video alongside, you’ll hear from some of the incredible volunteers and community leaders talking about what they are doing with Grow Together and why these local initiatives are so vitally important.
This project was first trialled in Maryland, Newham - on the Alma Street Estate. It was originally named Greener Together and the super inspiring project film can be seen here on YouTube.
This project was supported by IMPETUS.
loop Labs, tranquil City and TElraam Collabroration
a traffic data project in Lambeth
In the autumn of 2023, we invited Lambeth locals to be part of a new pilot project exploring how citizen science can help understand the impacts of traffic scheme changes in their area.
The project was based in the Stockwell Gardens area, which is undergoing a transport plan change.
Visit https://telraam.be/en/network/tranquilcity for more!
FLOURISH PROGRAMME
GROWING FOR ALL IN COMMUNITY GARDENS ACROSS NEWHAM
Loop Labs in association with Forest Gate Community Garden, Abbey Gardens and Manor Park Community Garden - ran a series of summer community gardening and growing workshops across Newham for adults led by grower and artist Joanna Pidcock.
We ran dozens of wonderful community workshops over the summer 2022 and there were many more that took place in schools all across the Borough of Newham across summer 2023. Head over to our Projects page to find out more about Flourish - what we set out to do and what we accomplished.
Flourish was generously supported by the Foundation for Future London.
As a Year 2 Grantee for our Flourish Programme, Loop Labs is in excellent company. Watch the film here:
The Climate kick start 2021 Prize!
A Composting, water harvesting and mushroom farm project
Loop Labs and the Forest Gate Community School were awarded a Climate Kick Start Prize by Mayor Sadiq Khan on November 5th, 2021. The prize giving was held at the beautiful Barbican Conservatory and we were joined by the four other schools who had also been awarded prizes.
With the grant, we started a school food waste composting and water harvesting programme. In addition we will built a mushroom farm on a large, shady bed on the edge of the school grounds, as well as continuing the food growing programme which was successfully implemented earlier. Please do watch our prizewinner, project video!
GREEN FOREST GATE
Spring and Summer 2021
Green Forest Gate planting in action. Odessa Infants School. Summer 2021.
Green Forest Gate was an ambitious greening and gardening project, which involved many local schools, a plethora of community workshops, a forest of trees and armfuls of plants, thousands of seeds and a 100m long watering hose.
Starting in March 2021 through to July, we taught hundreds of children how to plant and grow food. In addition, our community up-skilling programmes were hugely successful and were completely booked out. We also worked with Newham Council to plant out and re-design and re-configure the south side of Earlham Bridge, a notorious spot for piles of litter, grey concrete and consistent anti-social behaviour.
The pandemic made us all realise the importance of being outdoors and the positive effects nature has on our collective mental and physical health. This is especially felt in areas like Forest Gate, which are heavily built-up, have major traffic and air quality issues and have limited access to green space.
We believe that as a result of Green Forest Gate, this corner of east London is a bit healthier and happier as well greener and generally more biodiverse.
To learn more, please visit our Projects page.
WEAR AQ
Can we assess the quality of air without the need for air quality sensors?
Loop Labs developed the community engagement strategy for the second phase of the experimental Umbrellium project, which maps environmental perceptions using wearable technology.
BONNER PRIMARY
In April 2018 Loop Labs delivered a six week Citizen Science Programme at Bonner Primary School in Tower Hamlets.
Video: Mile End Town Hall
Walk the Talk: Harnessing Pester Power
In 2013 Loop Labs designed and developed "Walk the Talk" in partnership with Intel and the Technology Strategy Board / Innovate.
The project inspired children to design a video game that encouraged a greater awareness of the benefits of walking.
“The children were very passionate and I was impressed with their creativity and their knowledge...their questions were very challenging!”
