Family Flourish Day
We’ve spent the past 2 years working to transform a disused playground in Lincoln Green.
The garden makeover underwent its final stages in Spring 2023, with new paving, trees and furniture courtesy of Leeds City Council, Veolia Environmental Trust and Horticon.
We celebrated the garden opening on May 21st 2023 with our ‘Family Flourish Day’. Over 250 people came along to enjoy the beautiful weather with music, workshops, poetry, performances, dancing and food. The garden redesign was created by Zosia Berkieta-Lewis in collaboration with local residents and it was so rewarding to celebrate the space with the people who helped to create it.
Photos: Tribe Four Films
We were joined by an amazing group of artists throughout the day, including:
Marco Woolf’s music can prove complex to categorise, his lyrics introspective and insightful -earning him a reputation as a skilled storyteller. His most recent release, “Francine, I” - a narrative-led EP was described as “light, complex, rich and immediate, swarming with micro-details that multiply with each new listen” (Pan African Music Magazine). A limited 12” run sold out within 24 hours and the release was critically praised. Comissioned by Opera North, Marco joined us in the garden to treat us to his atmospheric storytelling and delicate blend of folk guitar, jazz improv and post-rock melodies.
Phil is a dancer, teacher and founder of HelloHipHop, an organisation delivering workshops exploring Hip Hop culture to schools and communities. Phil’s workshops teach children the foundational elements of Hip Hop, encouraging them to express themselves through dance, music, literature and art.
Phil joined us in the garden, painting a live art piece called ‘Elements’ before showcasing elements of Hip Hop culture with a performance and Breakin’ workshop full of fun, creative and noise. Kids learnt how to breakdance before showing off their new moves on the Roxby Community Garden stage.
We were joined by a bunch of talented students from Leeds Conservatoire who serenaded attendees with music and poetry.
Performers included Zealous G, Sam Sheridan and Morgan Thomas.
We were also treated to a poem about womanhood written and performed by members of Kuluhenna Drama , the first-ever performance of our new puppet show ‘Michka & Me’, and tasty vegan food from Scoffs. Guests gathered around the activity stalls to make bee hotels, bird masks, and seed bombs before heading over to the henna tattoo and face painting stalls. The event was pedal-powered, courtesy of Reaction Bike-Power. Many thanks to the hard-working attendees who hopped on the bikes & kept things running.
Huge thanks to Tribe Four Films for capturing beautiful footage of the event.
Leeds Conservatoire impact report
We teamed up with Leeds Conservatoire for this event. They organised live performances from their talented students, volunteered their time and arranged catering. Students gathered feedback from community members during the event and created an impact report capturing the experience of attendees and volunteers. This colourful resource includes valuable data that will shape and inform our future efforts.
The Family Flourish Day was commissioned by Leeds 2023 as part of My Word, My City, My Neighbourhood and was held in partnership with Leeds City Council and Lincoln Green and Mabgate Neighbourhood Fund. Flourish is the culmination of 2 years of work to transform a disused playground into a space for residents to play, perform and grow in. The Roxby Community Garden has been created in partnership with Leeds City Council with support from Veolia Environmental Trust, Horticon, Leeds 2023 and Arts Council England.