Hammersmith Community Gardens Association (HCGA) is a local environmental charity which manages two community gardens in the Hammersmith area, Godolphin and Loris, the glasshouses in Ravenscourt Park and Phoenix School Farm and Learning Zone in White City. Their expansion into the neighbouring boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Brent in 2016 prompted the charity to adopt the working name of Healthy Community Gardening Activities (HCGA)
HCGA has a team of gardeners who deliver environmental education sessions in schools and we also guide groups on how to make their premises more environmentally friendly and give technical growing advice.
Grow Well is a 2-year project launched in September 2012. We work with local people across the Hammersmith and Fulham borough to provide therapeutic gardening sessions for carers to give them a break from their caring responsibilities and supported volunteer gardening sessions for people who need a bit of extra support hopefully leading to participation in our regular volunteering sessions.
The Get Out There! project offers local unemployed people the opportunity to learn new skills in basic environmental management such as conservation management, tool use and wildlife identification. Participants get the opportunity to visit and work on a range of different habitats across London as well as local sites in Hammersmith and Fulham. The project also gives local families an opportunity to get out into the countryside by running a programme of trips.