Growing Hollingdean

Growing Hollingdean

Growing Hollingdean is a friendly group of local volunteers who care about nature and helping biodiversity flourish in Brighton.

We’re a group of local residents who come together with other community groups to create and care for community growing spaces and wildlife areas in Hollingdean. We love sharing what we learn about local wildlife, nature and growing food, and learning from one another along the way.

Our aim is to help build a happy, resilient local community where people and nature can thrive together. We get involved for fun, fresh air, a bit of exercise and the chance to meet like-minded people.

Everyone is welcome! Whether you’re a keen gardener, a nature lover, just starting out or simply curious, we’d love you to join us. There’s no need to have any experience, just come along, get involved as much or as little as you like, and enjoy helping our local community and wildlife thrive.

Scroll through our blog to see what we have been up to and how you can join us, here.

What Growing Hollingdean collective do…

The Growing Hollingdean Collective is Jo-seph Evershed (Chair) supported by Aster Cornish, Polly Charlton and Hilary Silverwood (Joint Secretaries), Lars Schuy (Treasurer) supported by Gill Wilcox, Jo-seph Evershed, Fenella Burns, Abbie Mead, Mel Jarvis, Hilary Silverwood and Sarahjane Jackson (website artwork) are Tree Guardians and Forest Gardeners.

What our volunteers do

Our volunteers, neighbours and friends help make Hollingdean a greener, more welcoming place for people and wildlife. From gardening around our street trees and growing food in community gardens to caring for wildflower verges, every little bit helps nature flourish.

We also organise free events for local people throughout the year, and there are lots of ways to get involved, from helping at our plant fair to planting bulbs and making our neighbourhood bloom.

You don’t need any experience, just a little time and enthusiasm! Whether you can spare an hour now and then or would like to get more involved, we’d love to hear from you. Every helping hand makes a difference, and we look forward to meeting you.

You can help in many ways:

• Join one of our volunteer mornings, Tree Guardians, Forest Gardening
• Caring for trees
• Looking after the orchards
• Gardening
• Weeding trees
• Staking trees
• Pruning trees
• Mulching
• Feeding trees
• Teach gardening
• Helping wildlife
• Cutting wildflower verges
• Dead hedge making
• Photography / video
• Tea making
• Cake baking
• Safety marshals
• Tree surveyors
• Watering
• Fundraising
• Event organising
• Helping with the tree map
• Writing / proof reading
• Event planning
• Wildlife spotting
• Donate, thank you
• Give us a review on Google or on our website here, thank you.

Growing Hollingdean Blue-sky thinking afternoon, September 2024

A fantastic afternoon with all our volunteers sharing their ideas and thoughts about Growing Hollingdean.

Litter picking… small actions create a big impact!

We also help with litter picking to keep our green spaces beautiful. Our community is growing all the time and it’s a wonderful thing! Any small action makes a big impact. Thank you.

Join us at Growing Hollingdean

The core team meets every month to plan, organise and think up ideas. Please do get in touch if you would like to join us, we are always looking for more help!

First tree for Growing Hollingdean in 2020

Group photo by Twiggy

We look forward to seeing you at our next event.