Ginnel, alley, passage-way, snicket, jitty - call it what you will - most towns have them - and some villages too although I suspect they are not such a problem in villages. But these 'cut-throughs' from A to B can be such a magnet for tipping. First somebody leaves an old fridge they no longer want - dumping it there after dark when there is nobody around; then somebody, seeing the forlorn eyesore chucks their old chair there to join it. And before you know it the alleyway is blocked by black plastic bags containing goodness knows what. Nobody does anything about it, bags which have any food remnants in are soon smelt by the local rats - and... I don't need to go on do I.
Usually these thoroughfares are near to houses - often terrace houses or houses built quite close together. It is altogether a horrible and all-too-common a situation.
But today there are two stories in the Times which I can't help but be cheered by - and I hope locals cotton-on to the idea and it spreads like a plague in reverse.
When a man moved into a house in Manchester the ginnel near his new home was used for fly-tipping and was a real eye sore in the neighbourhood. But not any longer. He has transformed it - as The Times puts it - where there were broken washing machines etc., there are now 'geraniums and bumblebees'. At first he just put out the odd flower pot but then he admits to getting 'carried away'! Now it is an oasis - so much so that estate agents showing prospective buyers around the area usually start by taking them to this obvious selling point. What a fine example this man has set - would that all other such cut-throughs could have such a champion.
And later on in the same Times Ann Treneman speaks of a 'Ginnel Garden at the Tatton Park Flower Show. This garden has fruit and veg and an old bathtub planted with flowers and also a green roof over the bin area. There is also a tortoise feeding station. One of the ladies involved spoke of how she lived nearby a ginnel and when walking past one day she noticed that someone had moved some of the black plastic rubbish bags and put a plant pot there. Gradually others did the same until now the ginnel is more garden and less rubbish.
As Ann Treneman says this is a "small space with a big message". As they say 'Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.'
Let's hope it starts a fashion.
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15 comments:
The problem in many places is that the ginnel..or gwli..(gulley) is often too narrow for a "green machine" small roadsweeper, with only access for foot traffic...and how many cleaners wield a shovel and brush nowadays?!
Well done them for transforming their ginnels
A good list of names. It seems hard to build a sense of community these days when everyone does their own thing for just themselves. It's quite a surprise to realise just how many clubs and groups a town would have in the 1950s and 1960s. I was watching a video of a Whitsuntide procession from around 1960, and there were about 15 floats from different Sunday schools, just in one small town.
For ginnel or alley between houses read country lane, field gateway or loke in the countryside. If the ginnel folk stop dumping their unwanted junk outside in the ginnel let us pray that they don't drive a few miles outside town with it and dump it in our lanes, lokes and fields and expect the farmer to clear it up. No point in being satisfied it has disappeared until you know where it has disappeared to.
Gardeners World at Tatton Park last night did a brilliant job at showing what can be achieved in Ginnels and front of derelict houses by planting with flowers.
Where I live here on Sheppey the old alleyways that I used to play in as a kid in the 1050's are now used as dumping places for all manner of things - so sad.
"A small space with a big message", I like that.
It is heart-warming to hear stories such as these. Xx
It is good to know that there are still people taking it upon themselves to improve their localities. It sometimes only takes one person to make things happen.
Here, the same things happen in the rural areas and you know rural areas here are like no others. There's nothing but space.
Beautifying any space improves the environment for everyone.
Alleys of the world transformed!
There is a 'twitten' just behind our garages in Brighton, and one local man has placed about 30 flower pots on the low wall that runs along one side. It looks fabulous, and I tell him so every time we meet.
I will never "get" people who leave their rubbish around for others to clear up (unless, of course, it is pre-arranged), and I admire anyone who does something to improve their surroundings.
My daughter lives in a terraced house in Manchester. The majority of folk in the two streets backing on to the ginnel pay a very modest sum annually into a fund, and two families organise planting of shrubs and flowers and maintenance of the space. It's too narrow for cars, but many use their back gates for access for bikes etc. In the summer they have community parties. And nobody dumps rubbish because they value the beauty. This is how it could be elsewhere.... 🌹🌸🌷💐🌻🌼💮🥀
Dumped rubbish attracts more rubbish, doesn't it? My workshop car park gets tipped quite a lot - or it used to before I shopped a builder who was stupid enough to leave his name and address in the 1 ton pile. He was fined £8,000.
How good to read these inspiring comments. Yes - let's all remind ourselves - there are good folk in the world who do things like this in spite of the 'baddies' who do their best to ruin every beautiful thing with behaviour that never takes others into account.
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