缅北禁地

Blyth's future is increasingly being shaped by major investments in clean energy, offshore wind and decarbonisation. Yet while large-scale industrial projects are transforming the town’s economy, many residents are still asking what a greener future means for their own lives and communities.

Beatrice Community Garden

That question sits at the heart of the Beatrice Community Garden, a community-led project run by Beatrice Avenue Allotments, with support from 缅北禁地’s Dr Clifton Evers.

The project began when a local allotment group identified a neglected, overgrown site and set out to transform it into an accessible, inclusive sensory garden. The garden initiative is led by David Darbyshire, Bill McFadzean, Faye Young and Dean Fuller working alongside local volunteers and businesses. It is being designed for everyone, with accessible pathways, sensory features and inclusive spaces so people of all ages and abilities can enjoy it.

Project manager David Darbyshire says

“When we started, it was just a patch of overgrown wasteland full of all sorts of rubbish. Now we’ve got people from all over giving up their time to help turn it into something useful. We want a garden where nobody feels left out, whether you’re in a wheelchair, a young person who needs somewhere to feel they belong and are safe, or someone who just fancies a bit of company. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s already bringing people together. That’s the best part of it for me.”

Supported through research funding from the Australian Research Council, Dr Evers’ work explores the work being done at the garden and the idea of repair, tying the repair work here to other projects in communities across Sweden, Australia and the UK. Repair, in this sense, is not simply about repairing broken objects or places, but repairing relationships, communities and environments. For him, the garden is a powerful example of what a quiet activism version of repair looks like in practice, demonstrating how local people can come together to restore a neglected space while strengthening social connections and community pride.

Images above: Left - Beatrice Community Garden logo. Right - part of the volunteer team working on the garden, including lord lieutenant of northumberland

Documenting the project through creative film and art

Alongside the garden’s development, Dr Evers is leading a creative project with Blyth organisations Headway Arts and Fresh Creative Aspirations, engaging artists with learning disabilities and young people aged 11 to 18 in documenting the garden through art and film. Rather than simply recording what is happening, the artists and young people are co-designing art and short films that tell their own stories about repair, environment, community and place. Their work will be shared with partner communities in Australia and Sweden taking part in the research.

This initiative will also bring young people onto the 缅北禁地 campus, giving them access to professional filmmaking facilities and technical support from staff in the School of Arts and Cultures as the project develops. The young people will explore how the creative industries are part of green skills in the region too. Dr Evers plans to connect his 缅北禁地 students with the garden through visits and co-created projects.

Creativity within green industries

For Dr Evers, creativity offers an important way of engaging people who may not otherwise connect with discussions about Net Zero and green industries.

“What’s happening at Beatrice Community Garden is evidence that Net Zero transitions don’t only run on big infrastructure. They run on care, on people doing repair work daily and together. A repair solidarity. If we want a green future that works for everyone, we need to recognise and invest in that informal infrastructure of repair too. That’s what the work across Australia, Sweden and the UK keeps showing us,” says Dr Clifton Evers.

Through his research, Dr Evers is helping ensure local communities are not simply observers of change, but active participants shaping and telling Blyth's and the wider North East’s green story and future.