MaesNi Environmental group focus: Creating spaces for nature and community wellbeing.

MaesNi Environmental group has been a long-held fixture in the Invest Local area of Maesgeirchen estate. The roots of the group trace back thirty years. Although the group’s name and leadership have changed over the decades, they have always been led by and for the community, and their focus has always been to encourage residents of the estate and volunteers within the group to engage with nature in a meaningful way, improve biodiversity throughout the area and over time to provide positive green spaces for well-being that can become valuable community assets within the estate. 

At the beginning of the Covid pandemic and with local lockdowns in place, the group had been unable to meet in person, but as a move that placed community wellbeing at its core, it was decided that the group could start meeting again socially distanced, and outdoors from March 2020. In February 2020 the group received a welcome boost of manpower in the form of Paul Joslin from Wild Elements, who was appointed to work with the group to support them and help bring their plans racing back into action. 

Paul recently spoke to Kiana from BCT about the amazing progress the group has made, the current projects the group is engaged in and the exciting future plan they have to help bring substantial biodiversity and community well-being to the Maesgeirchen estate by placing nature at its heart.  

Back in March 2020, the group started developing the community ‘Hive’ garden with a community garden pack from Keep Wales Tidy. Paul explains the starter pack provided beams for raised beds, wildflower turf, a greenhouse, a tool shed, tools, soil, compost, plants and seeds, slate waste for a path, and bird feeders. In addition, Keep Wales Tidy provided initial extra hands-on help, to kick-start the project by appointing a temporary worker whose purpose was to support the first stages of installation on the pack.  

From there the group built on the base pack from Keep Wales Tidy by taking an eco-friendly approach toward gathering further resources to grow the garden.  

Paul explains “The group is always on the lookout for items and materials that can be ‘repurposed’ in some way. We have salvaged wood to help build a shelter, reused old trellis to make an arch, turned an old garden water feature and a dog’s bed into planters, and even rescued plants from gardens that were being cleared.” 

Back in March 2020, the group started developing the community ‘Hive’ garden with a community garden pack from Keep Wales Tidy.

Now two years into its development and the Community Hive Garden is not only a thriving community green space and the main home site of MaesNi Environmental group, but also supplies homegrown produce for the local community Hive café which provides low-cost and affordable nutritious meals for residents of the estate and a thriving hub for residents to use as a positive social space. 

With the success of the ‘Hive’ garden, the group is now setting its focus on expanding the project into the wider community. Recently, Paul and the group have been in contact with both ADRA housing association and Gwynedd Council to discuss other undeveloped green areas of the estate that they could utilize. They are excited that ADRA has now given permission for the group to use Maesg hill, where they have now started installing a new Keep Wales Tidy Wildlife Garden pack. With this section of land occupying such a prominent space and creating the main first impression of the estate as you enter, its hoped that not only will this expansion of the project help to introduce a strong thread of biodiversity into the area contributing towards bio regeneration and pollination, but that the move will also raise the profile of the groups work and encourage further residents to get involved in volunteering with the group, helping to build and grow this valuable community-led project into a long-standing community asset. 

They are excited that ADRA has now given permission for the group to use Maesg hill, where they have now started installing a new Keep Wales Tidy Wildlife Garden pack.

The group’s plans to bring their work out into the focus of the local area don’t stop there, with sleeper beds now having been installed in prominent places in Maesgeirchen and Tan y Bryn such as outside the main shops, it is hoped that by filling these beds with food, herbs, and pollinator plants that an ‘Incredible Edible’ feature will be developed creating more resources for residents to access.  

In addition, the development of this type of project will create a space for youth engagement projects. In March 2022, the group did a joint planting session with ADRA housing association and the local school, Glancegin, planting up wildflower beds outside the bungalows. Although, due to Covid opportunities to involve local schools have been limited, with restrictions now lifted it is the intention that groups of schoolchildren will be involved with the planting projects on a more regular basis in the future. 

Along with that intention, Paul says that Maesgeirchen’s newly appointed Youth worker has suggested they would be in favour of doing some gardening and other environmental work in the local area. 

When asked about any future plans that the group has for the project, the possibilities for greater community well-being from the scope of their ideas are endless. They have focused on building a truly strong and community-centered project plan for the direction they want their work to take, and it’s one that is guided by keeping the best interests of the residents at its heart and of the ways that a community approach can be taken to address current ecological and economic pressures. 

In line with this, one of their goals for the future is to bring the community together in a mass tree-planting project in support of the Welsh Government and Coed Cadw (The Woodland Trust) environmental partnership Scheme 'My Tree, Our Forest'. 

Discussions are currently ongoing with ADRA and Gwynedd Council to gain permission for sites where the trees could be planted, with ADRA having already agreed to some locations, along with the Gwynedd council biodiversity team who are planning some woodland management/conservation activities which will involve community groups. 

In line with this, one of their goals for the future is to bring the community together in a mass tree-planting project in support of the Welsh Government and Coed Cadw (The Woodland Trust) environmental partnership Scheme 'My Tree, Our Forest'. 

As the discussion with Paul comes to an end, it’s clear that MaesNi Environmental group’s incredible group of volunteers have big plans with one central goal of joining the community together and improving the natural community assets the area has, by building bridges with Local authorities and landowners in order to develop that land into something that will be benefited from for years to come by future generations. 

Moreover, this approach to their work is mindful of the current economic pressures that residents and families of the area have faced for years and that in recent months have become a focus again due to the Cost-of-Living Crisis.  

Where Covid had highlighted the immediate need to separate people for safety but in effect brought Maesgeirchen’s residents together in a confirmed sense of call for action to address the immediate needs it created throughout the community, the Cost-of-Living Crisis has served so far to prove that their approach towards a community-led reaction in building and growing their resources in a sustainable way is the most positive course of action they could take. It is felt by the volunteers that by taking action in this way, when events do develop that place more pressure on the community, by investing in well-being and biodiversity-focused growth projects that will be owned by the community, they will have the resources to call on to address the immediate needs that those events create.   

The plans of MaesNi Environmental group are well thought out and well underway and with a successful community garden beginning to put its roots down through the estate the future for them looks bright. Their main hope now is to inspire more of the residents to get involved and to take the opportunity to join in with a project that they hope will install a sense of pride in helping to build something valuable for their community and regenerate the estate.  

As Paul explains when asked why the residents should look to get involved with the project “The well-being benefits of being outdoors, active and connecting with both nature and other people are significant. The current group’s activities are being posted on social media, and with information via a newsletter due to be sent to all residents, it is hoped more people will want to join in.”