In February 2022, with Liverpool Food Growers Network, we held a networking event bringing together community food growers with other community food spaces such as food pantries and food banks with the aim of facilitating connections, eating good food, and learning from other organisations who have already established these partnerships. St Michael in the City, home to Roots in the City – a community garden led by Faiths4Change in the heart of Liverpool city centre – provided the perfect location to bring these two groups together.

We began the session with a speed dating-inspired activity, giving everyone the opportunity to introduce themselves and the work of their organisations. The room was buzzing for over half an hour as every couple of minutes attendees met someone new.

After the speed dating, we went straight into lunch which was cooked on site by Rachel from Faiths4Change, delicious soup and salad with sourdough bread baked that morning by nearby Baltic Bakehouse. To add to the sense of place, some of the fresh ingredients were harvested from the Roots in the City community garden.

Following on from lunch, we had the opportunity to hear from three local organisations and their food partnerships; Grow Speke, Faiths4Change, and Micah.

 

Brendan from Grow Speke talked about their partnership with SLH’s The Market Place. You can watch his talk below.

Brendan’s presentation can be viewed here.

A full transcript can be viewed here.

 

Rachel from Faiths4Change talked about their partnership with Micah. You can watch her talk below.

A full transcript can be viewed here.

 

Nicher from Micah talked about their partnership with Faiths4Change and Farm Urban. You can watch her talk below.

A full transcript can be viewed here.

 

Feedback was clear, events supporting community food growers and other community food spaces are wanted in Liverpool and the city region. We hope to continue our partnership with Liverpool Food Growers Network by hosting more of these kinds of gatherings in the future.

Feeding Liverpool will be organising regular events throughout the year bringing community food spaces together. Our next event will be Supporting Asylum Seekers in your Community, date TBC.