I’m a project officer (at Hollybush) and I’ve been employed here for four and a half years.
I came to Hollybush because I got a job here teaching the gardening course, I started off doing the courses two mornings a week, and then in the afternoons I was running a gardening club as well.
The first day on site, for my interview, I remember worrying where to park! I remember the building seemed very, very different. I remember having a tour of the garden and I remember sitting in the café, which seemed really cosy and having a cup of tea. There was a lot of stuff going on and it seemed like a very vibrant, full of people kind of place.
I think personally the project that is sticking out for me, is the wildlife walks. Which was something I instigated because of my ecology background, and it was based on the fact that we needed to run some groups and we didn’t have a day in the garden to do it in so, let’s do a walk!
Fundamentally it’s walking but with a focus on the environment, so we go to particular areas around Leeds which I’ve done lots of research into. Which have interesting nature, so, lots of woodland, but also wetland areas, areas with ponds, areas with canals, areas with rivers and although the wildlife is the main focus, it’s almost like that’s the backdrop. I don’t often get a chance to talk very much about wildlife you know. I’ll stop and I’ll start chatting and I’ll point something out and then it’s just like a little side thing because, people just enjoy being outside. They enjoy being in that environment and they talk about lots of other stuff. It’s almost like the walk itself encloses that group of people. It’s a good excuse to get outside, there is wildlife stuff in there because people are interested in different things and I’ve tried to do side shoots of little bits of extra training. I went on a course to do lichens, which was a real experience and ferns as well. So people that are particularly interested in expanding their ID skills have got involved in that. I’ve got involved with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and non-native and invasive species. We’ve had a birder come in, so there are lots of those elements in there, but a lot of people just like it because we are walking somewhere beautiful, or somewhere peaceful, that we make a lot of noise in. So yeah, I think that’s a project that’s really stood out for me.
It’s a strange thing (Hollybush) because a lot of times people say, ‘Oh I didn’t know you were here’, and, even now I have to remind myself as I come along Leeds Bradford Road, and I’m going round on that nasty bend and I think ‘Oh, that’s the garden down there!’ and it really is hidden away. It’s such a part of ‘Old Leeds’ you know you see a lot of parts around Leeds where you think, ‘Oh right, that used to be a house on its own’ and then the City has just kind of swallowed it up, In many ways it’s very urban, because a lot of the people that come here live in very, very urban areas, but it’s also perched on the edge of open fields, which is one of the benefits of being here, you can walk along the canal and forget you’re in the centre of Leeds. The building itself, because it’s old I think, because it’s got an old barn, it’s got cobbles, it almost creates that little sense of, a little bit of escape, that, although you’re in an urban area, you’re not. You know, you’re stood in the garden and you hear the buses going by, but it still can feel like you’re in a separate space.
Anne Proud, Tutor and Project Officer at Hollybush since 2014
Written by Anne Proud