CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Hello and welcome to Nature Fix with me,
Claire Hickinbotham. Every month we take you with us as we meet
the people who spend their time outside and join them in a place
that most inspires them.
Today I'm in South Yorkshire to meet gardener Katie Mackinder as
she helps host three choirs and creative groups in a celebration
of nature, spring and blossom at Wentworth Castle Gardens.
Alongside Katie, I meet some of the people whose lives have been
transformed by being part of the choirs, as they sing their
hearts out in the newly redesigned and replanted Union
Jack Garden.
So I've come today to Wentworth Gardens in the north of England.
I've come along the M1, past Sheffield, past Barnsley and
I've driven into this amazing space that's home to a college
and these wonderful gardens that I'm visiting today.
And it's a massive great house that the college is based in, at
the centre of these gardens, and it's quite a unique place
because already the area is shared with the college and the
gardens are looked after by the Trust but they work with a lot
of people from the Barnsley/Sheffield areas who
come here and help look after the gardens.
And this place is home to a very unique garden, the Union Jack
Garden. And I kind of assumed it would be planted up red, white
and blue, but it's the aerial view that gives it its name.
And what they're doing here is they've divided up the space
into the triangular sections and different people look after
different sections.
Some of those people are here today to perform in a day of
celebration so there's going to be lots of singing, lots of
chatting, lots of laughing. So let's go and find out a bit
more.
I've had a little wander around but grab a gap between sets to
catch up with Katie Mackinder, a gardener here at Wentworth.
So where are we at the moment?
KATIE MCKINDER: We're currently in the Union Jack Garden. This
is really the centre of our community projects that we're
doing at the minute of the gardens. So it's quite a
community led site actually.
So we've got our event on today which is the Voices Blooming
where we've got three choirs from three different community
groups that have been working with the team to design some of
the segments in This Union Jack Garden and this is a celebration
of that. A celebration of connection to nature.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So the Union Jack Garden is exactly
kind of what it is if you look at it from a drone point of
view. It's the shape of the Union Jack and those triangular
segments are looked after by different community groups.
KATIE MCKINDER: I think there's 13 segments in total and each
group has allocated one of the gardens team and we basically
help oversee their design process and then the
implementing so each of them had like a budget.
The gardeners are involved but we really try and have a light
touch so that it is definitely what they want and their space.
So some are very like woodlandy sort of nature-based little
animal sculptures more ecologically if you like
wildlife piles, whereas some have a slightly more formal
touch we have like a yin and yang garden which is about
mindfulness it was done by a group of school children and
then we've got the open country segment which is much more about
accessibility so there's different level raised planters.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Can we have a look at one?
KATIE MCKINDER: Yeah we'll go into the Creative Recovery group
because I do really like this.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: You're not allowed to have favourites?
KATIE MCKINDER: I know it's not even my group but I feel like
they took the the brief if you like and just really made it
their own.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And they're one of the groups singing today?
KATIE MCKINDER: They are yeah and they had all the flowers in
the segments and you can see that they've spent time crafting
these little wildlife sculptures that are made out of recycled
materials and you do see a lot of butterflies in here
especially early in the season.
We've got a massive philadelphus there at the back that at any
time will be flowering. It has such a nice scent and that was
one of the original plants that was in the segments because they
were all very overgrown so I quite liked that it was kept
actually and adds sort of height in structure to the segment.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So the garden was completely overgrown?
KATIE MCKINDER: Yeah so there was a previous Trust that had it
and then there was a short period where it was sort of run
on skeleton staff and so there was lots of parts that were sort
of left to, I don't know, do their own thing.
But this is one of the segments, well parts of the garden
actually, that just became massively overgrown. It's got
these mulberries in the centre that each were kept. But yeah,
the philadelphus, roses, a lot of bramble. If you dug down
there was quite a lot of interesting plants but you just
couldn't see the wood for the trees.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And Creative Recovery are a group
that's based in Barnsley and they. well they help people
recover from whatever it is they want to recover from. by being
creative you know they've got the choir they've got the
garden. I've noticed some rather colourful crape flowers being
carried around as well it's a really interesting approach to
caring for somebody who feels like they need a little bit of
extra help.
KATIE MCKINDER: Yeah and space like I think a lot of people
don't realise that actually you do need to carve the time out
and the space out to process something that you've either
been through or you're recovering from. And actually
this is a physical form of that, having the actual space where
they can come.
And as part of the community partnership group they can just
come and visit that group and come and visit their segment.
And sometimes they'll come and do a little bit of weeding, a
bit of tidying, but sometimes they actually come and do
projects here.
So they did a project like a soundscape and they they wrote a
poem and they used this site to build the soundscape build the
birds and it was this really insightful and yeah poignant
poem that they did and it was really great and this was the
setting so it was nice for that.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Do you see a difference in people from the
point they first come to the garden through whichever group
they come through to weeks months years later?
KATIE MCKINDER: 100 percent. I think National Trust talk a lot
about spirit of place And this is a site that naturally just
has that.
But there's also an element where the people bring the
spirit of the place. And I think what Wentworth are really
amazing at is really embracing and like enmeshing that sort of
sense of community and that everyone welcome. People really
do feel, I think, at home here and especially in their
particular segment.
You'll often come and just see them reading a book and they're
just completely relaxing, doing their own thing, not being
disturbed, but just knowing that they're welcome and feeling a
real sense of ownership of the site so what more could you ask
for from a project?
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And what about you personally what do you
get out of working in nature was it always a given that you would
go down this route?
KATIE MCKINDER: It's so funny because I think when you ask a
lot of people about gardening they'll often give you a story
of like oh I used to garden with my granddad but I really didn't
have that very much like a city girl growing up but I just had a
feeling that I would just go into it. And so when I was at
uni, even though I did archaeology, I was thinking
about it a lot.
So I did the RHS qualifications alongside my course. I just got
into heritage gardens and then that led me on to maybe more
thinking about ecological gardening and nature-based
gardening, which I definitely think is my preference, and
using nature-based solutions to tackle environmental problems,
but also social and community problems and try and build that
void where there's still such a big gap in access to green
spaces.
So this project especially is amazing for that yeah.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Sounds like it suits you perfectly?
KATIE MCKINDER: Yeah I think so but yeah I really enjoy it.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And you've been part of organizing the
event today which is three of the community groups singing and
we've heard some of them they've started already. It just fills
the space so nicely doesn't it?
KATIE MCKINDER: Yeah I think sometimes people feel nature is
separate to us but it's not like we are a species, we are part of
nature.
So actually when you've got the birds singing, when you've got
the humans singing, the little chattering, the laughing, it
builds up this chorus. And it's not been too long since
International Dawn Chorus Day and I think just everyone adds
to it. You get the build-up and the layers and it works so well.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Oh, brilliant. Thank you so much for
talking to me.
KATIE MCKINDER: No, it's been great.
CHOIR ANNOUNCEMENT: The next song we're going to sing is
called The Tall Trees.
It's The Words by Wendell Berry and it's been set to music by
our very own Kate Thomas.
KATE THOMAS: My name's Kate Thomas and I lead Body Of Sound
Women's Singing Group.
It came about in 1997 when a friend of mine was leading some
singing at another woman's 50th. In the kitchen, the woman said,
could you start a women's singing group for us? And so
Helen said, OK. So she started it in 97 and I joined it,
actually, I joined it 25 years ago today, I realised this
morning.
It's... an amazing community. Yeah, it's great to be part of
that. And it's just a really nice bunch of women and it's
really nice when you see somebody new come who thinks, I
can't really sing but I just kind of want to have a go and
then you see them discover that they can sing, that they love it
and they meet this lovely group of women and it's, yeah, it's
just great to be part of.
It's always nice to be outdoors in somewhere beautiful and we...
like a lot of songs to do with the natural world. So, yeah,
it's good.
We've got this song called the May Song, which we always sing
in May, which is just celebrating the Earth circling
into May time. We sang one today called Big Sky, which is all
about sort of taking care of the Earth.
And there's quite a few people in the group involved in various
sort of, you know, climate-supportive stuff. So,
yeah, that's definitely a scene that we like to sing about.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: After the Body of Sound set, I catch up
with two of the singers, Julia and Carol, who is using a
braille machine during the performance to read the words of
the songs.
CAROL: I'm the only visually impaired person but it's really
nice because everybody makes you feel welcome. It is just a nice
place to be and to be able to go and sing and not have to worry.
It's all women, it's nice to know for one night a week we've
just got all women. We're like a family really.
JULIA: We look after each other and there's no pressure but we
all sort of feel the same about nature and about climate and
just by coincidence, but we all very much be unsafe.
CAROL: And I think there's something about singing isn't
there? Something about lifting your mood.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Other choirs singing today is the
Uplift Choir. It's part of a larger Barnsley group called
Creative Recovery that supports mental health and recovery
through creative endeavours. I speak to Sharon who's a member
of the choir.
I've just been listening to you singing and you finished up on
one of my favourite songs from the musical Annie. It was really
uplifting, I had to tear in my eye because it's such an amazing
song isn't it?
How do you feel when you sing it?
SHARON: I'm fortunate that I hadn't lived up here long and
found Creative Recovery that was run in the choir so I've been
going since about 2018 and days like this just uplift you as an
individual and in the group and obviously the people that are
being involved. And it's the fact of coming into nature,
which, again, when you look around is an absolute blessing.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I mean, I am beaming, chatting to you. You
are beaming. Your choir is behind you and there's just so
much happiness, isn't there?
SHARON: And it is contagious and contagious in a good way.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Am I able to ask what your personal reason
for joining the choir was?
SHARON: Yeah, it goes way, way back. I've been under mental
health services since about 2010. But just finding charities
and support networks, and because I worked in the
voluntary sector I'm more drawn towards what they provide, so
finding Creative Recovery and it's not just the choir that's
half and they've got involved in actually doing a part of the
garden up here as well so there's so many different sort
of like routes spreading through as to what they get involved
with and how they can encourage anybody in the community that
may not think that this is for them but it's the opportunity
and the range of finding things out.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Do you mind me asking you a couple more
questions about your mental health? I know it's a very
personal thing. How did it affect you before you found all
these places?
SHARON: Quite badly, actually. Total isolation, and that's a
very common thing. But when you are isolating, the hardest thing
is to actually step outside the door. It's knowing that those
people are there does help. But once you sort of take that step,
and it is the first step is the biggest step, the benefit that
you get.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So it was a loneliness brought on from
living on your own?
SHARON: Yeah. Again, marriage breakdown, divorce, which was
awful. And so this is a part of my therapy. You go in, no matter
what you're feeling like when you go in, you're bouncing when
you're going out. So, yeah, highly recommend it.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Your new family.
SHARON: Exactly, exactly. More Barnsley family.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Well, thank you so much.
SHARON: Thank you.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: On the way out, I bump into Irina, who has
been wandering round the gardens, listening to all the
choirs.
IRINA: Gardens is absolutely remarkable. Today, I feel, is
absolutely big paradise. So many people, different generation.
And I attend Blossom Choir.
SPK_8: As a non-native speaker right with a stroke when
sometimes I have a speech difficulties and a memory
difficulties atmosphere was so enjoyable and so I think the
best way to communicate. It's nice weather happy people
everybody smile and definitely it's just to recharge my battery
so quickly and so simple.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: It's perfect combination isn't it?
IRINA: Unique combination you're absolutely right.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: You said you lived in Barnsley for 25
years?
IRINA: Yes, yes, 25 years. Immigrated in 2000, marriage,
then divorced. But, you know, I feel Barnsley is so, so, so
special place for me. I'm from Ukraine. 25 years ago, people
think, why are you going to Barnsley? That is a small town.
But now it is war in Ukraine. And I will say... Very lucky to
be a British citizen and enjoyed British weather, British garden,
British culture and a cup of tea.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Thanks for listening to this collection of
stories celebrating the power of nature on people. Over the last
12 months Nature Fix has brought you adventures from rock pools
on the Isle Of Wight, to the joy of rotting logs in a haven in
the shadow of Heathrow Airport.
If you've missed any, why not have a look back? And most
importantly, we hope Nature Fix has inspired you to get out in
nature, because that's what it's all about. So it's bye from me,
but why not head over to Wild Tales, our ongoing nature series
with Rosie Holdsworth and Ajay Tegala.