Urban gardening and how you can 'just do your bit'

From brightening up urban areas, to litter picks and growing food for those in need, voluntary groups across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire dedicate their time to helping communities. As we enter a new year, we look back on what some of them have achieved.

“You can’t change the world, you’ve just got to do your little bit,” says Pru Tomes, the chair of Beverley Urban Gardeners (BUG).

The group came into fruition a year ago, with the mission to brighten up areas in its town.

It was inspired by Hornsea Urban Gardeners (HUG), set up in 2016 by June Greensmith, which is still going strong nearly 10 years later.

HUG also runs an allotment, growing vegetables which it supplies to Hornsea Pantry twice a week.

A composite photo of two images side by side. On the left is a street sign that reads 'Scalby Place' next to a white wall. Underneath it are purple, white and pink flowers along with greenery and white rocks. On the right is a green plastic basket full of tubs holding various vegetables including tomatoes and green beans.

Hornsea Urban Gardeners create mini-gardens under street signs and grow and supply vegetables for a local pantry [Hornsea Urban Gardeners]

Ms Greensmith said the group, which involved about 50 people across the town, turned neglected spaces into gardening areas.

This includes underplanting street signs to create mini gardens, a chat bench corner on the seafront, a sunken garden and the community orchard and allotment on Hull Road.

The allotment works for people who prefer to work alone or in small teams and they “grow all the vegetables you can think of” Ms Greensmith said.

Ms Greensmith said the group was fully self-funded and raised money by selling cuttings and baskets, as well as having items donated to them.

In the past three to four years, Ms Greensmith estimated the group had planted about 500kg (1,100lb) of bulbs across the town to create “thriving” pockets of greenery that used to be “just scruffy little areas of no interest”.

“If we don’t look after the green spaces within cities and rural areas, what are we going to be, just concrete jungles full of litter?” Ms Greensmith said.

Her advice for people wanting to volunteer was to “start small” and do something where you live that would be fun to do.

Ms Tomes said BUG was also self-funded but also received donations, including support from Beverley Town Council.

She said they “brighten up” areas that “look a bit sad” in the town.

The group mainly consists of people in their 60s and 70s, and is seeking younger people to help with heavy lifting.

Ms Tomes said: “Instead of going to the gym, come and do a hour on a Sunday morning with BUG.

“If nobody cared, what sort of a town would it be?”

Volunteer Gary Bosworth in a navy fleece, jeans and boots and a cap, smiling and pointing at the garden at the entrance. Chair of trustees Lynn Ritson is holding a spade, also wearing a navy fleece, jeans and wellies and beckoning people to walk in. Two flower pots can be seen at either side of the brick entrance, with a pathway, trees and bushes in the background.

Like stepping into The Secret Garden, the Dawber Garden is run by a devoted group of volunteers all year round [BBC]

Over in Lincolnshire lies the Dawber Garden in uphill Lincoln, self-funded by another group of green-fingered trustees and volunteers, the Dawber Garden Community Trust.

Originally the hospital garden for the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, as it was known, it was taken over from City of Lincoln Council in 2023 by a group of volunteers.

Working through all the seasons, the group maintains the public garden for people to enjoy.

Lynn Ritson, chair of trustees for the group, said: “Not a day goes by when we volunteer when someone doesn’t come and talk to us, ask us questions and thank us for what we have done in the garden.

“It gives joy to everybody that there’s such a nice space in the middle of the city where you can visit, sit and listen to the birds.”

A group of litter pickers wearing blue, yellow and orange high vis vests, standing on tarmac path on top of a grassy embankment by the side of a river. They appear to have retrieved an old electrical appliance which is lying on the path with a length of blue rope attached to it.

Grantham RiverCare says it has collected at least 30 tonnes of waste over the past 21 years [Grantham RiverCare]

Litter-picking groups also helped to care for Lincolnshire’s environment in 2025.

David Martin is co-lead for Grantham RiverCare, which is part of a project delivered by Keep Britain Tidy and funded by Anglian Water.

In January, Grantham experienced flooding from the River Witham, affecting about 20 properties in Belton Lane and a large area of nearby Wyndham Park.

Grantham RiverCare helped to collect at least 100 bags of rubbish following the flood, even finding a glass bottle that may have dated back to the 1800s.

Lianne Havell, the founder of Sutton on Sea BeachCare, says the group helped with the clean-up after 11 tonnes of plastic pellets washed up on Lincolnshire’s beaches in March following a collision involving two ships in the North Sea.

“The amount of rubbish that would be in the sea if we didn’t do something about it isn’t even worth thinking about,” she said.

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