00:00We've lived down here for 17 years now and when we first moved in there was quite a bit of trouble,
00:06there was a bit of anti-social behaviour with a few houses. When we decided to start the gardens
00:12we got a few neighbours together who we thought would like to join in. We had a walk up and down
00:16the alley because it was all overgrown, all dumped on, nobody had any respect for the area
00:22so we thought we'd clear it up and that's how we started. We were sick of people throwing carpets
00:28out, fridges, using it for drug dealing. The ones that came out there was about 20 of us and we all
00:34were like-minded we thought yeah let's tidy it up. That's initially what we did. We started talking
00:39to a gentleman he said oh my son's an ecologist so he came down had a look down the alley with us
00:45we wrote down what was actually growing there and what was beneficial. Over the years the big trees
00:50had actually dropped the leaves and made soil on top of the tarmac so there was plots of land that
00:56could be used so that's how we started to turn it into gardens really. Everything was overgrown
01:03and there was a bit of fly tipping here and there it wasn't looked after at all it was dilapidated
01:08really. We got a notice through the door one day from Angela and Paul and they were just asking if
01:15anyone wanted to help out and we were like yeah that's a great idea so we jumped on board. Our ethos
01:22was to be natural everything has to be sustainable so you've got to either get a seed or be able to
01:27get a cutting off it or divide the roots. Now we've got so much down there that self-seeds itself
01:33or just reproduces every year we're hardly having to buy any flowers so what we wanted to do is
01:40actually working now. It certainly has turned the area around where people never really spoke to each
01:45other and just say hello and that's it. Now we have community events. We've had a street party for the
01:52Queen's Jubilee, we have barbecues, evenings where we get a fire pit going and we sit out and it's
01:58it's just a communal area. We moved in we got a lovely sunflower from one of our neighbours, a welcome gift
02:05and then we got an invite to the Queen's Jubilee and they shut the whole street off
02:10and we got to meet all the friendly neighbours and then we found out about the plot so we took off
02:15the plot. My partner's mum passed away unfortunately but it helped her by coming out into the alleyway
02:21going on the plot to come out read a book or be mindful and it really helped her and she started
02:27doing bits on the plot and it took her mind off everything it really helped her. It's a really really
02:32great way to kind of meet everybody and yeah get to know some people when we've not really
02:39didn't know anybody really. It's like a gated alleyway so we know that it's only people that we know will
02:44be here and that she'll be able to be around like the outdoors and in green spaces. Just a lovely place
02:54and I've never been anywhere where a community is like this apart from when I was a child going back to
02:59my grandma and her community was exactly the same as it is now but we don't see it very often. It's
03:04like going back in time it's a nice thing it really is. So I think that this garden is an example of
03:12what Blackpool has to offer not just oh dear the highest this and the highest that. I think what we
03:19need to do is tell a different story. I think having this here makes a real positive difference you know
03:25the people on your street and so when stuff is going on like you're not on your own kind of all
03:30oh I feel a bit scared it's kind of like oh no like this is like we can do something about it and
03:35you can be a real positive change.
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