Broadstairs Town Team

Sustaining community gardens in Broadstairs.

With support from Kent Community Foundation, Broadstairs Town Team volunteers have been able to sustain and improve eight community gardens across the town - protecting green spaces that benefit both people and nature.

The challenge

As a volunteer-led charity, the group relies on funding to maintain its gardens. Reduced donations, alongside the impact of climate change - particularly hotter, drier conditions - made it increasingly difficult to keep these spaces thriving.

At the same time, the gardens play a vital social role, offering opportunities for connection, particularly for older residents at risk of isolation.

Our support

Funding helped volunteers adapt and strengthen the sustainability of the gardens by:

• Introducing drought-tolerant planting to reduce water use

• Improving soil health with mulch and composting

• Adding evergreen shrubs for year-round structure and carbon capture

• Installing water collection systems

• Providing secure storage to reduce transport and emissions

• Covering essential volunteer insurance, enabling the group to continue operating safely

Two key regeneration projects - including a drought-resilient shingle garden at Albion Street -have transformed underperforming areas into attractive, low-maintenance spaces.

The difference made

• Around 17,500 residents and visitors benefit from the gardens

• Increased biodiversity and reduced environmental impact

• Greater volunteer involvement, including young people

Improved wellbeing through social interaction and shared activity

The gardens also create informal moments of connection that matter deeply in the community.

Susan Wainwright, Trustee and Garden Group co-ordinator at Broadstairs Town Team:

“Funding from Kent Community Foundation and Martello Trust has provided a wonderful safety net for our small garden group. It has allowed us as volunteers to work together to make a difference for the good of our town, its people and our many visitors.

Our volunteers are hugely proud of the gardens and take great delight in receiving positive ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’ comments as they work. 

It is not all work - volunteers love to chat over a trowel with passers-by. Those few moments are often a lifeline to many of our elderly residents."