On 3rd June, Linda and Jill from the WEN Crafters were asked to teach some simple craft projects at a training session held for NHS staff from Merseyside and Cheshire at Birkenhead Multicultural Centre. The day had an emphasis on mindfulness and over 60 people attended – many more than expected!

Jill and Linda demonstrated how to make fleece animal blankets and fabric wreaths, with the material for these being provided from the store at WEN.

There was a lot of positive feedback and people clearly enjoyed the sessions. We’re glad to have provided a mindful moment to those leading hectic lives working for the NHS. Well done Linda and Jill!

Whilst many thousands gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate the Summer Solstice on 21st June, we had our own celebration at WEN, although admittedly we didn’t get up for the sunrise – ours started at 10am!

There were nineteen of us altogether and the weather cooperated for most of the session. As well as sharing information about Stonehenge and other less known neolithic sites built by our ancestors to align with the solstice, such as Brynn Celli Ddu in Anglesey; we also used the solstice energy to make elixirs which were left outside.

Elixirs can be used to spray in rooms, place in the bath or, provided strict health and safety protocols are followed, they can be consumed. Our neolithic ancestors always marked the solstice with a feast so we did likewise with our solstice cake.

More history and crystal workshops will take place from September so look out for information in our newsletter, on social media and here on the news page of our website.

The mini-pond at WEN

The plants in the raised beds at WEN have been really prolific this year. A mix of flowers and vegetables have made them very attractive. The Falkland Road Organic Gardeners planted beans, peas, onions, spinach, carrots, potatoes, kale, leeks and runner beans. In the polytunnel, they are growing tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes and salad leaves.

Beans growing in one of the raised beds at Falkland Road

The summer term of our gardening classes finished at the end of the month. All of the courses have been very productive and well attended, with some interesting practical subjects covered e.g.

• Building a raised bed for no-dig gardening – an ongoing project
• Using garlic spray as our snail, slug and aphid control, which has been very successful

We now have a contact who supplies us with alpaca manure. We have been putting it on our beds and also using it to make a liquid manure, with good results. We’ve allowed all beds to grow what ever has self-seeded and planted vegetables in between and so we have had beds full of colour from flowers such as poppies, borage, English marigolds and forget-me-nots. As well as being pleasing to our eyes, the flowers have also been very attractive to insects, giving a real biodiversity boost in the garden.

The garden history group have had a number of visits including to Calderstones Park, Croxteth Hall and Liverpool Herbarium.

Gardening classes start again week beginning 15th September. There are limited places so watch this space for courses available. You can also make sure you hear about the courses by following us on Facebook or Instagram or signing up to our newsletter.

Some of the many poppies