Celebrations on the meadow

On Saturday 7 September 2024, Multistory hosted Green Roots on the Meadow, a free and family-friendly celebration as part of our Green Roots in West Bromwich programme. Set on the meadow behind Primark at New Square shopping centre, the event featured the first annual cutting of the wildflower meadow that was planted in September 2023, musical renditions, live theatre, nature and art activities and more. Below you can read about the jam-packed day but first we’ll tell you a bit about our Green Roots programme that has been taking place in West Bromwich.

As part of Sandwell Council’s Urban Greening Town Improvement Fund, the aim of the programme is to improve and enhance green public spaces in the town. Through workshops, co-produced community-led activities and events, we encourage people to question: what is growing on our doorstep; how can we make space for both people and wildlife in our towns; and how can we utilise our green spaces for our benefit as well as nature’s?

From wildlife walks and meadow planting led by the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, to a photography exhibition by the students at Sandwell College, Green Roots in West Bromwich has captured people’s relationships with their local environment and supported the enhancement of richer biodiversity through knowledge exchange and planting. Green Roots on the Meadow celebrated this programme and brought together some of those who have been part of the journey, as well as introducing new audiences to our work.

The event

The event began at 10 am with some fantastic music from Bostin’ Brass and, despite the drizzle, the band lifted everyone’s mood with their rhythmic tunes. Shortly after, Jake and Sarah from the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust led a demonstration of cutting the meadow. This had been planted by local volunteers the previous year and it was wonderful to see some of them again returning to the project. Using scythes, Jake and Sarah explained how the meadow was to be cut and why, and they sowed more wildflower seeds for the coming year. People were also invited to take free seed packets to encourage more of us to plant meadows in our gardens (big or small!), to support nature and wildlife.

After this, audiences were treated to a live performance of Sounding the West Bromwich Way from poet Lee Mackenzie, accompanied by musicians: James Mcilwrath (viola and bouzouki), Meg Diamond (flutes), Peter Bell (accordion) and Dillon Connelly (recorders). The origins of this project stem back to Winter 2023, when Lee and sound artist, Lorenzo Prati, worked with members from the Sandwell Visually Impaired group to capture the sounds that they could hear during a walk from West Bromwich High Street to Dartmouth Park. These sounds were then infused with the illustrated map of the town (designed by Lee) with a digital version available on our website. As part of the Green Roots on the Meadow event, Lee narrated a walk-through of the map with the accompanying music and sounds adding to the story.

It was then time for the first performance of Wandering Wild, a newly commissioned piece by Open Theatre. A heartwarming and humorous non-verbal performance, Wandering Wild explores how communities can care for the landscape and each other. Featuring mischievous foxes and an unsuspecting badger, Open Theatre brilliantly summed up the ethos behind the event: celebrating the intersection of community, creativity and the environment.

From 12.30pm, all of the activities took place again, so that new visitors could engage with the performances and meadow cutting. Bostin’ Brass continued to keep us entertained during the interludes with more fantastic music and, throughout the event, families and their children could try their hand at monoprinting with the brilliant Ruby Lewis and enjoy table-top planting with the magnificent Zoey Sibanda. It was a joy to see children creating artworks and taking their plants home with them. Sandwell Council’s Public Health team kindly came along to promote their offers and share information about their work across the borough.

And, as a treat for everyone who took part and attended, , we were delighted to be joined by Percy’s Hotdogs who provided a range of delicious, free hot dogs!

We would like to thank everyone who supported and took part in this event: our funders, partners and all the artists, performers and volunteers who helped bring the day together!

We would like to thank New Square for collaborating with us on this project and Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust for their dedication, knowledge and support of the meadow. Also a special thanks to Urban Audio for their technical assistance and Tegan Kimberley and Belle Portas for capturing the event on film and photographs.

We’re so excited to continue this vital work around environmental sustainability, expanding green spaces in Sandwell and fostering stronger connections between communities and nature by creating spaces where people can come together.

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