Sources of Information
Useful websites
Black Environment Network focuses on working with deprived ethnic groups. Many ethnic communities live in some of the worst environments. Environmental participation can enable them to access the vast resources available in the environmental sector.
www.ben.org.uk
Common Ground is internationally recognised for playing an unique role in the arts and environmental fields, distinguished by the linking of nature with culture, focusing upon the positive investment people can make in their own localities, championing popular democratic involvement, and by inspiring celebration as a starting point for action to improve the quality of our everyday places. They offer ideas, information and inspiration through publications and projects such as Field Days, Parish Maps, Flora Britannica, Apple Day, Community Orchards, Tree Dressing Day, Confluence and the Campaign for Local Distinctiveness.
www.commonground.org.uk
Flora Locale promotes good practice in the use and sourcing of British / Irish wild flora and have information about seed and plant suppliers.
www.floralelocale.org.uk
A web-site from Common Ground, ‘England-in-Particular’, aims to excite people - as locals or visitors - with ways of getting under the surface of places, offering a way of looking at the local area as a kind of evolving celebration along with ideas for effecting change. The site offers a few ways of navigating the great common wealth of nature, landscapes, buildings, settlements, histories, myths and stories, always on the move, which in their interweaving give us the rich and varied particularity of our surroundings. The site includes useful pages on community orchards and The Year in Particular Calendar of customs and events.
www.england-in-particular.info
The Local Heritage Initiative was a small grants programme that ran in England from 2000 to 2006, funded through Heritage Lottery Fund. The website includes a national archive of projects funded by the scheme with a searchable database that includes 274 gardening projects.
www.lhi.org.uk
The Sensory Trust promotes and implements an inclusive approach to design and management of outdoor space; richer connections between people and place; equality of access for all people, regardless of age, disability or background.
The site includes information and resources, details of projects and research findings.
www.sensorytrust.org.uk
Publications
Available from Common Ground:
ABC - learning to read your locality
A3 folded leaflet in colour about how to gather information, get a poster printed and how to use the ABC to set local agendas. 10p each.
The Art of Gentle Gardening
A5. 24 pages. with colour illustrations. Many ideas on how we can link plants, people and place, reweaving culture and nature to reinforce local distinctiveness. £2.50.
Celebrating Local Distinctiveness
Common Ground for Rural Action, 1994. Gives examples of how local people are reinforcing local identity, many are Common Ground projects. A fascinating gathering of environmental action and arts in rural areas that is both persuasive and practical. £3.00.
Local Distinctiveness: Place, Particularity and Identity
Essays for a conference, including papers by: Richard Mabey, Gillian Darley, Neal Ascherson. Patrick Wright. Michael Dower and Roger Deakin. Common Ground, 1993. £5.95
Local Flora Britannica
A5. 32 pages, with full colour illustrations. Ideas and examples of how to invite wild flowers and trees back into our social calendar and personal affections, helping everyone to take an active and meaningful part in nature conservation at the local level. £3.50.
Other Publications:
England in Particular, A celebration of the commonplace, the local, the vernacular and the distinctive, by Sue Clifford and Angela King Written by Common Ground, England in Particular (published by Hodder & Stoughton) covers nearly 600 subjects from alleys, allotments and apples to warrens, white horses, yew and zawns. It is a counterblast against loss and uniformity, and a celebration of just some of the distinctive details that cumulatively make England. This book is about a way of looking, cherishing detail, patina, the commonplace and the particular. These webpages are intended to help us to stand up for the habitats, creatures, buildings we value, our local culture and identity. ISBN 978-0340826164, available from Amazon £21.00
Making Connections: A Guide to Accessible Greenspace
This book is about the connection between people and the natural world and making sure that the benefits are available to everyone. The book combines survey results with existing literature and examples of good practice in a variety of greenspace sites including how people can be encouraged to use and get involved in sites. ISBN 0 9526745 3 X Available from the Sensory Trust, £10.00 (PDF).
A Sense of Place 2004
A sense of place can be what makes somewhere special and different or what makes it routing and relaxing. This publication, based on conference proceedings, draws on examples developed by people around the world all working to make sense of place a reality. Available from the Sensory Trust £15.00.
People and Places – A Response to Government and the Value for Culture
A response from English Heritage on Government and the Value of Culture published in 2004 by the Culture Secretary to address the meaning and value of culture in people’s lives. This publication reflects on these issues in the context of the historic environment. Available from English Heritage, downloadable free from www.english-heritage.org.uk