How we came to be…
Hammersmith Community Gardens Association was founded by local residents in 1984 after a successful campaign to secure the future of Loris Road and Godolphin Road Community Gardens. Since then the charity has expanded to manage multiple sites and run projects throughout west london.
Godolphin Community Garden
The corner of Godolphin Road and Thornfield Road was bombed some time between 1940-1941. The area that remained had pre fab houses and then became an informal park and during the early 1980s the council (who owned the land) wanted to develop the site. The local residents fought this and along with the residents near Loris Garden managed to save the sites for development. The pond was dug in 1990 and the eco shed was craned into place in 2009.
Loris Community Garden
The first community garden site, at Loris Road, was bombed during World War II leading to the creation of a green space by local residents. In the 1980s the council wanted to sell the land for development and local residents fought to stop this. This group of residents joined with those at Godolphin Garden to form Hammersmith Community Gardens Association.
Ravenscourt Park Glasshouses
The glasshouses in a state of disrepair circa 2000
HCGA took over the derelict glasshouses and adjacent walled garden in 2004. The glasshouses were built in the 1970s and were used to grow plants for the park. After securing a long lease on the glasshouses in 2019 HCGA started fundraising to replace the old glasshouses as they are now becoming too difficult to maintain due to their age.
Photo taken in the 1970s
The Glasshouses in use today
Phoenix Farm in White City
In 2007 HCGA was asked by Headteacher Sir William Atkinson to help create a community farm and garden at Phoenix High School. HCGA helped to make his vision a reality by building the garden, recruiting volunteers to help maintain it, running community events and getting school children involved. Our gardening has now spilled out to include the nearby White City Estate
In 2015 Hammersmith Community Gardens expanded to three boroughs across West London, delivering similar projects around education, health and wellbeing and managing green spaces.
