At the end of each year, I’m always amazed at just how much has been achieved by Bandstand Beds Association (BBA), and 2024 was no exception. Our organisation goes from strength to strength, and it’s an absolute pleasure to feel part of this incredible community asset on Clapham Common.
When I first became a BBA member back in 2013, we just looked after the beds next to the café at the Bandstand, and the fruit beds in front of the toilet block. One of our most noticeable achievements in 2024 was improving the planting area at the fruit beds and working with Lambeth to get a new fence installed around this growing space. These beds produced a bumper crop of fruit, especially blackcurrants which made their way into our much sought-after jam.
Since our modest start 12 years ago, BBA now also manages a magnificent community food-growing and wildlife garden on Windmill Drive, along with a composting facility and orchard beside it. All providing space for local residents to get their hands in the dirt, while connecting with wildlife and nature. BBA offers a safe space that supports health and social wellbeing, by running a wealth of workshops and activities for the local community.
Throughout the year, there are gardening sessions on Monday afternoons, Saturday mornings, and Wednesday evenings during the summer months. The Monday sessions — in partnership with Froglife’s dementia-friendly Wild Times — and Saturdays have good year-round attendance, with lots of gardening followed by a shared lunch or tea and cake. There’s a fantastic social element to them!
In addition to our regular gardening sessions, we collaborate with schools and organisations local to Clapham and London-wide. In March, we ran a volunteer session with Clapham’s homeless charity the Ace of Clubs, to help with garden clearance ready for the growing season ahead. We also donated and planted five fruit trees. This is always a fun event and we’re looking forward to a return visit in the early part of 2025.
Each year in April we join community gardens across London by taking part in Capital Growth’s Good to Grow. This year’s Seed Sharing & Sowing workshop at the garden was another great success, with people travelling from as far as Walthamstow and beyond to take part in the event – including Pam Warhurst, founder of the Incredible Edible Network.
KeyRing in Lambeth is an organisation that supports around 50 people in the borough to build or maintain their independence. They usually meet at Clapham Library, but in May they made an afternoon trip across the Common to visit our community garden. After a guided tour, we sowed peashoots to grow at home, had tea and cake and shared lots of gardening tips.
On a sunny afternoon in June, we hosted a garden visit for two groups of Year 3 pupils (25+ in each) from Heathbrook Primary School. The children were keen to check out how we do things at Bandstand Beds to gain inspiration for the amazing food-growing and nature activities they do at the school. Over the past few years, we’ve developed a good relationship with Heathbrook. We have also been speaking to other local schools about garden visits.
The social element of the garden is hugely important, especially for people living alone with no outdoor space. In addition to tea and cake during a session or a shared lunch after a Saturday morning’s gardening, we have held foodie events on site, including our Common People Picnic in May and summer solstice bring ’n’ share event. Although the Picnic looked like it might be an absolute washout, the Brixton Ultimate frisbee team still turned up to volunteer despite the pouring rain. Luckily the sun came out after lunch and the Ultimate team did a magnificent job shifting a heap of compost for us.
The biggest event in BBA’s calendar is our annual feast in September. A free community harvest festival with delicious food cooked in our field kitchen, plus stalls and lots of activities on the Common. The Ace of Clubs and Froglife joined us for the event which was well attended. We received generous support from local businesses who provided prizes for our fundraising raffle to help cover the costs of the day.
A popular activity with families at the feast is the scarecrow building. Once positioned around the garden, these rather impressive characters become a popular year-round attraction, photographed daily.
It’s amazing just how many people out walking on the Common do stop to check out our community garden. We also get lots of visitors on a Saturday morning dropping by to pick up goodies from our produce stall, or to take a wander round to see how our garden grows. Many of them, especially families, make a beeline for our pond hoping to see frogs, spawn or tadpoles.
Sadly, it became apparent in late summer that the lining of the pond built by former BBA member, Tom, had reached the end of its life. So before closing for our winter break, we set about replacing it. With guidance from Froglife’s Dylan Jackson-French, lots of help from our Monday group and an extra Friday volunteer session, we now have a new pond ready and waiting for our resident amphibians to spawn in spring.
It’s been another incredible year for BBA, promoting food growing while supporting and protecting wildlife. For a volunteer-led organisation we achieve an tremencous amount of community engagement and provide an amazing safe space and environment on Clapham Common for wellbeing activities.
BBA has developed a sustainable model for a community-run organisation that continues to grow year on year, and it’s always rewarding to have our efforts recognised. At the end of the summer, we were thrilled to be awarded Outstanding – Level 5, by London in Bloom for the second year running.
On a personal note, I felt honoured to receive Volunteer of the Year in the Lambeth Civic Awards 2024 in recognition of my work on Clapham Common. Credit for this award is also due to the BBA members who have given me their continued help and support to create and sustain our green oasis in the heart of Clapham. A huge thank you to all of you.
So far in this review of 2024 I have focussed on the positive aspects of BBA, but there are also challenges to managing a community garden. Climate change being the most significant of all. The extreme fluctuation in temperatures not only affects the crops we grow and our harvest, the increased heat of summer also impacts on the activities we run. To continue providing gardening and wellbeing activities – particularly for older people and children – it is necessary to provide some protection from the sun. We need to create an area of shade in the garden, such as build a pergola to facilitate the growing of grape vine or other climbing plants. This is a project we will propose to Lambeth Council in the year ahead.
BBA is now entering its thirteenth year and continues to grow. Our success is due to the work of our dedicated members who give their time to keep our organisation, community garden and other growing spaces on Clapham Common sustainable. An enormous thank you to our members for making Bandstand Beds a welcoming and safe environment, where people from all walks of life can get outdoors, garden, connect with wildlife and nature, and socialise. Long may it continue.
Written by David Dandridge – BBA Chair.
This blog only highlights some of BBA’s achievements in 2024. For more information and photos, click on this link to visit our Instagram account.
Want to know more about how to become involved at Bandstand Beds, or become a member? Click on this link.
Special thanks to Lambeth Council for their continued help and support since BBA was set up on Clapham Common in 2013.