City Girl in Nature - Paper Garden reflections

Where do I start about my experience of working with Global Generation in particular Paper Garden.

I remember the first time I was invited down to Paper Garden, Emma had got in contact as she had seen my work, the content I was sharing on YouTube around connecting with nature on our doorstep and what inspired my journey to become ‘City Girl in Nature’. I was surprised at the location as I had no clue this place existed, I grew up next to Pepys Estate (in Deptford) which meant Surrey Quays/Canada Water was my stomping ground growing up.

I came down to the garden and shared my story with the young people whilst joining in with what they had been focusing at the time, which was using tools to take bark off some trees with Yes Make Ldn.

I felt connected with the Paper Garden as it’s where I spent time growing up, the Odeon, Pizza Hut & Hollywood bowl was the closest sort of leisurely place I could access. To know this was somewhere local young people were now spending their time, building connections with their peers, nature & themselves gave me a real sense of hope.

A few months passed by and I received a phone call from Emma to come down to the garden to have a meeting. Of course I didn’t decline, having the opportunity to step into and share space with the people I had, I felt great joy to visit the space again. This was also in a transitioning period of the garden. The main classroom space was being built so shipping containers were being used as temporary measures, I vividly remember the red one. I was offered the chance to facilitate alongside Malaika on a weekly basis. 

I began working at the garden, and quickly realised the space was magical, not just because of the fact such an amazing garden was built on top of concrete but the energy and people around. I saw a community of people that was sharing, building and growing together. 

The sessions we were facilitating varied, some days we’d water the garden, others we had gone down to a local space which was used as a dumping ground and rewilded it for a nursery.The intergenerational gain was a pleasure to witness. 

The work with City Girl in Nature content being released still continued and people in outdoors spaces started to notice me, from academics and wildlife presenters to community gardens. It was nice to know that I was having impact online and at the time there wasn’t any content I could see like mine. But for me, the groundwork was the most important part, which Global Generation has played a big part in.

As the years have passed by, Global Generation has really helped in my growth and have always supported my projects including allowing me to feature both Story and Paper Garden in video content around the importance of water, the facilitation of my first City Girl in Nature camp and of recent, hosting me & the team for the podcast part of my latest project ‘The Outdoors and Holistic Nature Project’.

There’s been so many interactions with the people that are still with Global Generation, to others that have now moved on. The late Siw spoke with me about her connection to British Exploring Society, who were the charity who took me on a transformative life experience that changed the trajectory of my life and what inspired me to start ‘City Girl in Nature’. Siw was so experienced. The Paper Garden staff have always been warm and each individual brings their own flare.

Every week and every opportunity I get to work alongside or even attend Global Generation sites is always a great joy. I’ve had the pleasure to witness so many activities and work being done; I take my soon to be 2 year old to the Under 5 sessions at Paper Garden which has really also helped me in my personal life in finding a space nearby that I can be around other parents, careers & children.

Being a part of the young people's journeys is a huge pleasure

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Notes from the Garden