UK: Pioneers talk about urban farming as movement celebrates 50th anniversary
With urban farming having celebrated its 50th anniversary, Kat Hopps meets some of the pioneers of the movement that has helped introduce millions of Britons from built-up inner-city communities to the benefits of agriculture, animals and the environment
By Kat Hopps
Express
Jan 4, 2023
Excerpt:
“City Farms feel like the zeitgeist for all the things they have championed for the last 50 years concerning community engagement and cohesion, co-creation, mental health and well-being, and environmental learning,” says Eira Gibson, director of Kentish Town City Farm. “It feels like our time now and hopefully we’ll get more recognition for our work.”
Located in the heart of Camden, it is where the movement, now numbering more than 50 farms, began in late 1972.
“Our founders wanted a space where people could play, create and imagine,” Eira says. “[To provide] a creative space where you can be free from the burdens of everyday life, and that’s true to what we do today.”
With train lines skirting its borders, Kentish Town Farm best illustrates these urban spaces as a juncture between town and country.
“Our goats are waved at by commuters heading out of town,” smiles Eira.
The 4.5 acre space houses a riding arena, wildlife pond and numerous animals including Shirley the cow. Life here sprang from the stables. “The honest answer about our history is that it was accidental,” says co-founder David Powell.
Back in 1972, he was part of the community theatre group Interaction that rented a disused wood yard from Camden Council to house their fleet of vehicles. After discovering a set of Victorian stables, they created London’s only riding school not owned by the Queen. “Suddenly there was half a dozen horses and a couple of local volunteers who were very keen to look after them. My father-in-law was a farmer and he donated some silkie chickens and a calf and within six months, there was an embryonic City Farm and it just grew.”
