By Slow The Flow Trustee, Steve Garrod
Water butts sponsored by Slow The Flow at ‘Seeds of Hope’ – a festival in Shibden Park (August 13-16th 2026) celebrating community gardening in Calderdale.
Organized by CultureDale in partnership with UNESCO, the festival was designed to to promote creativity, sustainability, and community engagement through gardening activities.
Ten groups were commissioned to create the micro show gardens as part of the summer 2026 schedule of events celebrating 100 years of Shibden Park:
The Brunswick Centre, Everybody Arts, Friends of Shibden Park, Friends of Todmorden Railway, Halifax Academy, Healthy Minds, Incredible Edible Todmorden, The Outback, The Paddock and St Augustine’s Centre.
These themes of creativity, sustainability, and community engagement fit perfectly with Slow The Flow’s ‘You Can Slow The Flow’call-to-action so funding was offered to the community groups by Slow The Flow for water butts that could be included in their micro garden displays.
Pictured here are features from the gardens at the festival created by the charities Healthy Minds and St Augustines. Also pictured, Slow The Flow Patron, Jack Wallington who gave a talk at the event.
