Hidden Voices: three very different first visits
‘Hidden Voices’ is an inspiring project being run by that participation and learning team at Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, engaging community groups in environmental issues. The Macular Disease Society, Asian Women’s group and Bristol Drugs Project will develop their personal connections with Westonbirt and ‘raise their voices’ to show why an arboretum may be relevant to their lives.
The last two weeks have been very productive for the Hidden Voices Project here at Westonbirt. We have had the initial visit for each of our three participating groups.
The Macular Disease Society were the first to visit Westonbirt and Chris led them on a sensory walk around the arboretum and created leaf sculptures using willow.
The Bristol Drugs Project worked on some pratical woodland management, coppicing laurel and had a guided activity walk with hands on activities such as “meet a tree” pictured below!
Awaz Utaoh enjoyed seeing the spring colour in the arboretum and they worked to produce handmade paper and willow butterflies.
Each group has different interests and reasons for visiting the arboretum. It has been a promising start to the Hidden Voices project. We look forward to continuing our work with all of them.
Useful links
Find out more about the Communities in Nature project
Information about Westonbirt’s Learning and Participation Team
