St Mary's Secret Garden
Workshops
Volunteering
ABOUT US
About St Mary's Secret Garden
"Well-being through gardening"
St Mary's Secret Garden is a horticultural project in Hackney, London. This small secret garden is often described as a peaceful oasis in the middle of a very busy area of the capital. It is approximately 0.7 of an acre in size and has been developed to create a diverse green space. There are four interlinking areas - a natural woodland, a food growing area (including vegetable beds, sort fruit and fruit trees), an herb and sensory garden and an area of herbaceous borders. We have a fully accessible classroom and a large greenhouse. Organic principles are used in maintaining the site and to encourage wildlife and biodiversity within the garden.
Our garden is a resource for the whole community to enjoy and we hold community events and are open for plant sales 9 to 5 Monday to Friday.
St Mary's Secret Garden provides a diversity of projects including accredited horticultural education, therapeutical sessions, volunteering, an annual flower show and work experience for students and school children.
Staff profiles
Paula Yassine - Senior Horticultural Therapist
Paula has been working with people in
the great outdoors for 11yrs now providing training in forestry,
conservation & horticulture. Paula works in the garden on a
daily basis with learners, clients & volunteers. Paula is a keen
fan of live music and is always to be found in the mosh
pit (or compost heap).
Catherine Birkett
Catherine Birkett has been working at the garden for over 3 years, and has
been gardening for 20. She works with various groups, is responsible for
publicity and has a special interest in children’s gardening. She loves
growing food and taking time out to listen to the birds.
Noushine Nozari
Noushine Nozari has joined the staff after 2
years as a volunteer at St Mary’s.
She is a trained occupational therapist and garden designer, so brings
excellent skills to the team.
Noushine works with various groups in the garden and is also responsible
for making sure our volunteers are happy gardeners!
Funders and supporters
We would like to thank all the organisations and individuals who
support us and make our work possible:
| Learning Trust Hackney Social Services Big Lottery Awards for All Local community of Fellows Court Shoreditch Spa Groundwork Deutsche Bank |
KPMG Citi Bank ELBA Capital Growth Mr Simon Gordon-Clark Shirley Faulkes Father Jim and St Chads Quynh Hoang |
........................................................................................................................................................
Designed
by Quynh Hoang:
quynhoang@gmail.com