{"id":1030,"date":"2013-06-20T11:26:06","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T11:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/?p=1030"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:59:14","slug":"chelsea-fringe-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2013\/06\/20\/chelsea-fringe-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Fringe 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Greenwich held its first community event at the Avery Hill Community Garden as part of the Chelsea Fringe festival. Dragos Buharu, a 2nd year\u00a0Business\u00a0School<\/a> student studying\u00a0BA Business with Marketing<\/a> was in attendance and here he gives you his perspective of the day.<\/p>\n

Chelsea Fringe 2013 \u2013<\/strong>Even the weather\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0ruin our fun!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Chelsea Fringe Community Event was hosted by the University of Greenwich at the Avery Hill Campus on the 7th<\/sup> of June. As an intern with the sustainability team I was there to find out what makes this event special.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fringe is all about harnessing and spreading some of the excitement and energy that fizzes around gardens and gardening. The idea is to give people the freedom and opportunity to express themselves through the medium of plants and gardens, to open up possibilities and to allow full participation.\u201d Chelsea Fringe<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The event at Avery Hill in keeping with the Fringe\u2019s ethos aimed to celebrate the spirit of community, mixing the unique excitement that can be found around a beautiful edible garden.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/a>

Chelsea Fringe Event 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

Dragos\u2019 Chelsea Diary<\/strong><\/p>\n

After having turned up early to help out with last minute touches, I accompanied James Hallybone from Roundfield<\/a> and some of the University\u2019s Sustainability Champions on a tour of the forest garden.<\/p>\n

The tour was interesting, educational and very surprising. At first, when you look around you just see tiny trees but when you learn about what they are the effect is jaw dropping. At one point we came across what looked to me like just a ball of twigs looking slightly out of place, then it was introduced as pomegranate tree! The same experience followed when faced with almonds and bamboo. All I could think was: \u201cSeriously?!\u201d while looking left and right for some panda to jump out at us!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mulch matting round one of our forest garden trees<\/p><\/div>\n

Having been \u2018very\u2019 tired after my exertions we went on to enjoy the fresh foods that Greenwich Community Food Coop<\/a> and the University had to offer. Let me add there was some very good and refreshing wine present. Greenwich Community Food Co-op (GCFC) was established in 2002 as a co-operative run by the community for the community and started life on the Ferrier Estate, Kidbrooke.<\/p>\n

Paul Harvey from Sodexo who cater for the University at the Avery Hill Southwood Site was pleased to be part of the event.<\/p>\n

“Sodexo are very committed to sustainable food offers & are always looking at ways of taking this forward.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Transport Team enjoying the Sustainable Food Menu from Sodexo<\/span><\/p>\n

During all of this excitement there was a living wall being constructed by students from the School of Architecture, Design and Construction<\/a> only feet away, and yes there was a lot of green in there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Newcome Edwards from the School of Architecture, Design and Construction<\/p><\/div>\n

Afterwards I decided to check out the bees in the observation hive, brought in by our resident beekeepers from the Ruxley beekeeping group<\/a>, Colin and Patrick. The Queen was easy to spot from the yellow mark put on her back, and it was clear to see that she was bigger than the rest!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As the event kept going we were joined 2 groups of kids from the Crafty Wizard\u2019s Nursery. They went on a mini beast hunt, accompanied by our very own Emily Mason from the Sustainability Team. The children were very cool and I even got a thumbs up from one of tiniest members of the group. When discovering an earwig and asked why they are called as such, the majority decided: \u201cBecause they wear wigs\u201d. Sensible enough answer, right? They also did some planting of their own.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These are only some of the activities that went on, throughout the day there was:<\/p>\n

Competitions
\nPlanting<\/address>\n
Young beekeepers from Corelli’s School
\nSeed and Plant Swapping
\nOrchard tours
\nWorkshops<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Who can get the longest peel?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/address>\n

Throughout the day I spoke to lots of people and decided to get some feedback on why people had come and long and what they had enjoyed the most. A staff member from the School of Architecture, Design and Construction came to see what was growing in the garden and to learn more about sustainable food sources. She was particularly impressed with the scale of things, the diversity present and with the maintenance of our raised beds. And yes, a lot of work goes into making them look that good, I myself spent quite a lot of time mowing the grass round the site with a rather temperamental push mower.<\/span><\/address>\n

While approaching another person I was thinking: \u201cHmmmm, she looks like she\u2019s having a good time\u201d. Apparently she is pro sustainability and her parents have had an allotment for about 40 years. She was also surprised by the diversity present in the forest garden and believes it to be a very good idea. She was also very impressed by the bees and growth present in general.<\/p>\n

The British weather was as unpredictable as ever and after a heat wave all week we encountered a rather heavy downpour but this did not stop us for sure. And what is a bit of gardening without a bit of rain?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope the garden continues to grow and more people get to benefit from this project though volunteering and purchasing the fresh produce. It is also a lovely place to hang out as a student and you never know when there might be free food up for grabs!<\/p>\n

For more information about the event of the garden in general please contact Emily Mason at sustainability@gre.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Greenwich held its first community event at the Avery Hill Community Garden as part of the Chelsea Fringe festival. Dragos Buharu, a 2nd year\u00a0Business\u00a0School student studying\u00a0BA Business with Marketing was in attendance and here he gives you his perspective of the day. Chelsea Fringe 2013 \u2013Even the… Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,22],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-1030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-engagement","category-edible-garden","category-student-engagement","tag-chelsea-fringe"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1219,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2014\/03\/21\/health-and-social-care-new-arrivals-event\/","url_meta":{"origin":1030,"position":0},"title":"Health and Social Care New Arrivals Event","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"21 March 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Once you start asking the question: 'what are the links between sustainability and health?', you can find yourself with endless answers. The sustainability team and the department of Health and Social Care here at Greenwich are dedicated to exploring some of those links for the students and research. For example,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Community Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"Community Engagement","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/partnerships-and-engagement\/community-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/03\/myhc_89963.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":905,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2013\/02\/19\/health-and-social-care-sustainability-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":1030,"position":1},"title":"Health and Social Care Sustainability Day","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"19 February 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On Wednesday the 30th January the sustainability team joined forces with the School of Health and Social Care for a community building and sustainability awareness event. All new arrivals of the 2012\/2013 academic year were invited to an afternoon of activities centred around meeting others from across the School's different\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Learning and Research"","block_context":{"text":"Learning and Research","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/learning-and-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/02\/Group-30-Photo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/02\/Group-30-Photo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/02\/Group-30-Photo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/02\/Group-30-Photo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/02\/Group-30-Photo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2012\/04\/23\/community-garden-at-avery-hill-campus\/","url_meta":{"origin":1030,"position":2},"title":"Community Garden at Avery Hill Campus","author":"","date":"23 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been an exciting past few weeks at the Avery Hill Campus as the community garden allotment has started to take shape. The garden now has eleven raised beds built, four of them filled with compost, a line of compost bins ready for our waste and a huge pile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Edible Garden"","block_context":{"text":"Edible Garden","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/edible-garden\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 1x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 1.5x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 2x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 3x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1256,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2014\/04\/04\/public-health-final-year-placements-in-the-sustainable-development-unit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1030,"position":3},"title":"Public Health final year placements in the Sustainable Development Unit","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"4 April 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Charity Imagor Greetings to you all, my name is Charity Imagor a 3rd year undergraduate Public Health student at the University of Greenwich. It is indeed a great pleasure to be a part of the University of Greenwich Sustainability Team. Pursuing a Public Health course at the University of Greenwich\u00a0\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Biodiversity"","block_context":{"text":"Biodiversity","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WP_000758","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/03\/WP_000758-225x300.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1120,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2013\/11\/24\/remember-remember-the-5th-of-november-university-of-greenwich-sustainability-awards-2013\/","url_meta":{"origin":1030,"position":4},"title":"Remember remember the 5th of November: University of Greenwich Sustainability Awards 2013!","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"24 November 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Alex Giles gives us her highlights from her first University of Greenwich Sustainability Awards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although I have only been with the University of Greenwich for 3 months, when it came to hosting the Sustainability Awards 2013 I could really appreciate the cross-departmental buy-in and support. Everyone in the room\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sustainability Team"","block_context":{"text":"Sustainability Team","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/sustainability-team\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hub banner","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/11\/hub-banner.png","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/11\/hub-banner.png 1x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/11\/hub-banner.png 1.5x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/11\/hub-banner.png 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2011\/10\/28\/breaking-ground-at-our-community-garden-and-gearing-up-for-the-orchard-planting\/","url_meta":{"origin":1030,"position":5},"title":"Breaking Ground at our Community Garden and Gearing up for the Orchard Planting","author":"","date":"28 October 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Today the Sustainability Team joined forces with the School of Architecture, James Hallybone and Tom Barnsley from Roundfield and Michael Unsworth from the Grounds team to break ground at the site for our new community garden. We haven\u2019t quite started to dig to plant yet but we have dug one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Edible Garden"","block_context":{"text":"Edible Garden","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/edible-garden\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-3vY2fVnMb_M\/TqrT2lQsaqI\/AAAAAAAAARk\/2rXNI-5AQeg\/s320\/photo%2B8.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1030"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7951,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030\/revisions\/7951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}