Your Place, Reimaging Our Space — PEACEPLUS Community Growing Programme

Ards and North Down Borough Council is delighted to introduce Your Place, Reimaging Our Space, a new PEACEPLUS‑funded programme supporting community gardens and Men's, Hen's and Everyone's Sheds across the Borough. 

The programme aims to bring people from different backgrounds together through shared, practical, hands‑on activity. The programme will reflect what local people told us matters most, shaped by community feedback and the ideas shared during our co‑design workshop at Bangor Castle. A second co‑design event for the south of the Borough will take place in the coming weeks. 

Over the next 18 months, participants will have opportunities to: 

• Take part in practical growing sessions 
• Join community‑related activities and skills development workshops 
• Participate in cross‑border visits 
• Attend stakeholder and networking events 
• Become part of a shared learning network for skills exchange and capacity building 

What We Heard from Local Groups and Participants 

Through early engagement, expressions of interest and our co‑design workshop, local people highlighted a number of priorities they would like the programme to support. These included: 

• More collaboration and networking opportunities 
• A diverse range of practical workshops such as seasonal planting, building beds, wildlife habitats and woodworking 
• Advice on food growing and ways to share or distribute produce 
• Guidance on preserving and cooking produce 
• Governance support including insurance, volunteer recruitment, accessibility and site security 
• Help identifying funding sources and completing applications 
• Better connections across the Borough including links with schools and youth groups 
• Access to shared tools and equipment 

These insights will directly shape programme delivery as it develops. 

What We Ask from Participants 

To take part, we ask participants to commit to 24 hours of programme activity over 18 months, made up of a mix of: 

• Site visits 
• Workshops 
• Talks and information‑sharing sessions 
• Webinars 

This helps ensure the programme is meaningful, consistent and beneficial for everyone involved. 

Registering for the programme 

To complete your registration please visit PEACEPLUS Your place, reimaging our space - registration form after which you will be provided with your unique reference number and a further pre-project questionnaire which must be completed to be fully registered.

Hard copies are available for collection at Bangor City Hall if preferred; please request them by emailing parkspeaceplus@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk  

Please also help us promote the project by sharing it with friends, neighbours and community partners.  If you have space to display a poster about the project, please get in touch. 

This project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).