Plot 33 (Festival Stoke's arty allotment) received support from Food for Life for a grow and share event in May.  Here are artists Rachel and Anne being interviewed for a film being produced for the national Food for Life programme run by the Soil Association.  You can watch the trailer below.

Join The Greening Stoke team on Saturday 30th April 11am - 3pm for a fun day out at the Community Allotment Plot 33 Plant Swap
If you have plants to swap great, however, you can come along and choose some plants even if you don’t have any to swap.
There will also be an opportunity to upcycle & decorate containers to put plants in
We are welcoming Dan Higgs from Bread in Common who will be cooking on site for you to sample.
There will be tea, coffee & of course cake.

You can call Anne Kinnaird on 07921 126694 for any info that you may need.
Donations gratefully received!

We're looking forward to Saturday 2 April when the Tiny Folk of Stoke come to town.  Part of the Hi Stoke! Festival.  (An event celebrating heritage and arts in the town of Stoke-upon-Trent).  The scenarios of tiny folk will be in six locations around the town including the Spode Garden, Stoke Minster and the Spode site.  You can pick up a map and more information from the Festival Stoke gazebo outside the library.  Starting at 12noon and running until 4pm, there'll be lots more activities happening too.

It's 12 months since artists Rachel and Anne took on the allotment at Richmond Street allotments; what a transformation there has been over the year.  They've welcomed the Wonder Women and other friends to help in the work of planting, nurturing and harvesting lovely fruit and vegetables, and got creative with some wonderful art activities too during that time.  

"We have had so many highlights - from the frosty January 2021 mornings drinking coffee in the greenhouse together watching the world go by, through to sitting in the sunshine sharing freshly picked salads with the Wonder Women. One of our favourite things has been to successfully growing loofahs on the plot -  we produced 3 of these intriguing sun loving fruits that we plan to use in a little social enterprise project."

Looking ahead to the next 12 months:

"So here we are at the end of January 2022 beginning to plan our next year.
Our new artist- built shed (by Richard Redwin) is on its way and will be inviting more people onto Plot 33 to enjoy planting, growing, harvesting and eating together.
We also have plans to extend our activity from the allotment into the community."

Keep up to date with news from Greening Stoke and Plot 33 on the blog.

Have you seen our fabulous range of fine bone china mugs in partnership with Denise O’Sullivan Ceramics which you can purchase on our Etsy shop.
Based on artworks from our past festivals each mug design draws on an iconic Stoke-on-Trent feature, including the pottery industry past and present, the canals and the many green spaces around the city.
Beautiful and practical these mugs celebrate both the heritage of Stoke-on-Trent and the city today.
They make fabulous gifts too, and we know what season is coming up…
🎁 ☕️ 🎄 🎅🏼 
FREE DELIVERY - use the code COLLECT21 on the order form and collect from Denise's workshop Monday to Friday 10am - 4pm

Denise O’Sullivan Ceramics
Unit 9
Summit Business Park
Lingard Street
Burslem
Stoke-on-Trent
ST6 1ED

We are excited to be involved in Hi! Stoke - the mini festival taking place in the town of Stoke on September 18th.  The festival is part of a three year project to enhance Stoke town centre and involves the creative people and organisations in Stoke, like ourselves, organising fun and creative activities and events to highlight the many heritage features of the town.  Put the date in your diary and join us for a Hi! Stoke fund day.
More information about the Heritage Action Zone can be found at hiculturestoke.co.uk

We had a wonderful July at Festival Stoke, with the Greening Stoke Plot 33 Alotment flourishing in the summer sun and the Mysterious Moth event at the Spode entrance in the town centre.

News from Plot 33:
Wednesday 21st July -  it was almost too hot to do anything today! but a few wonder women braved the heat to join us on plot 33 Anne and Reannan painted the fence in the shade of a gazebo while the rest of us continued to make some banners for a project we are working on.  Then we enjoyed  a lunch of frittata made with the potatoes, spinach, onions and garlic.
You can read more at the Greening Stoke blog and see some pictures of the first cucumber harvest too.

Mysterious Moth event took place on the weekend of 24-25 July at the Spode shop near to the Spode archway.  The event was part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme which is happening in the town centre of Stoke over three years.  Artist Becki Kremer created magnificent fabric moths which were suspended around the space. Artist Kirk Sylvester created a magical projection of animated moths and packing boxes.  You can find out more on the Mysterious Moth page.

We're getting excited about our first Mysterious Moth event on Saturday 24th - Sunday 25th July!
Taking place at the Spode entrance on Church Street in Stoke centre, we will be showing two evocative projections and one bright and colourful 3D moth installation.  Drop in either day between 2pm and 6pm and enjoy the light and airy space to view them.  
This event is in partnership with artist friends in the ACAVA studios in Spode and part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone - Hi! Culture Stoke.  
It is free to access so come and be uplifted by the wonderful artworks.
Above is a photo of the work in progress by artist Becki Kremer who writes:
"​As part of the Mysterious Moth project, I’ve been hand cutting, sewing and embroidering a series of felt moths, of various colours, styles, and sizes.
There are 12 moths, with the designs and colour combinations based on different types of real moths’ complex wing patterns - each with their own distinct personality and motifs.
I’ve been using several different stitching and embroidering techniques to create texture, depth, intricate markings, and layered colours. I also wanted to hand stitch each of them as it allows for more detailed personal touches that I could not achieve with a machine."