Marva has always known the power that access to green spaces can have on a person’s health and wellbeing. So with years of horticultural and gardening experience, she became the driving force behind Ryder Brow Community Allotment Society.
Marva discovered a derelict and overgrown allotment site when taking a shortcut one day in Gorton, Manchester - a chance discovery that has led her to become a community leader, growing vegetables and community in Gorton. With the help of the local councillor Julie Reid, Marva formed a constituted group of allotmenteers and local neighbours who worked together to clear up the allotment and form the Ryder Brow Community Allotment Society. These five local people, Marva included, teamed up to create a safe space that is now host to a myriad of gardening projects that reach a range of people in the community, including people over 55, refugees and asylum seekers, young adults leaving care and people living with dementia. The site has blossomed into a peaceful and secluded place that offers opportunities for group activities, grow your own food projects and more. The garden provides a place for people who are often isolated, experiencing mental or physical health issues or face challenges to meet others in their local community.
The One Manchester Housing Community Soup fund and The Manchester Wellbeing Fund were the first supporters who saw Marva’s vision of using the green space for wellbeing projects. Running for over three years and winning the Pride of Gorton Clean and Green 2020 award, the Ryder Brow Community Allotment Society stepped up its work over the pandemic, bringing people together safely outdoors with support from Ambition for Ageing and the National Lottery Community Fund. During a time where many groups were not able to operate, the Ryder Brow Community Allotment Society connected local and isolated older people on a weekly basis to learn about organic gardening and sensory plants.
The community allotment meets the needs of local people - and with the cost of living crisis only due to worsen over the coming winter months, the allotment provides local people with an opportunity to grow organic food locally and cheaply.
Marva wants to see the hub grow in what it can offer. She hopes for an indoor office space, electricity for heaters, warm drinks in the winter and improvements to the fencing for security as well as more workshop spaces for potting and a food prep area for pickling and food preservation.
“Improving the space can only increase the number of people we can reach and will help us continue to reduce isolation and provide people with the opportunity to learn new skills in Manchester.”
Marva
Marva applied for The Multiplier after taking a few months off to look after herself in the harsh winter months of 2022. She felt the programme came at a time when she was beginning to want direction and focus.
The Cares Family selected Marva and The Ryder Brow Community Allotment Society to join the Multiplier 2022 because of the powerful work they’re doing to grow social connection and bring people together in Manchester. Marva is building a community based on positive interactions in outdoor spaces and is proof that when you work together with your neighbours, change can happen.