Living in London does not preclude tackling food security, climate change and biodiversity; and there is a thriving foundation of urban community projects making a real difference here through their work.

As part of Haringey's Go Green Eco Urban Festival and National Park City's Grow Urban Festival, MHSG is thrilled to be teaming up with the trailblazing community horticulturalists at WOLVES LANE CENTRE in Wood Green, to offer a packed, free programme focused on community growing, a fairer, healthier, more sustainable food future and the restoration of urban wetlands.

THE PROGRAMME ...

11.30am - 12.30pm: a guided tour of the 3.5 acre WOLVES LANE CENTRE site led by Yvonne Field, covering what they grow and do in the Centre’s 1970’s glasshouses, the outdoor spaces and in the new £3m, visionary eco-development. As well as the next exciting 5-year plan of a 25-year tenancy for this vibrant community growing hub.

12.30 - 1.30pm: optional (exceptional) VEGAN LUNCH cooked in the Wolves Lane Centre café by their talented chef (£8 - £10 per person, on the day)

1.30 - 2.30pm: free presentations, followed by a Q&A, including:
- Paulette Henry, co-founder of BLACK ROOTZ: the UK's first Black-led growing enterprise, empowering over 100 community growers to cultivate their own food, connect with their heritage, culture and planet, against the backdrop of a 98% white UK farming industry.

- Nick Oliver, WWT LONDON WETLAND CENTRE, Community Action Manager: The UK's wetlands are disappearing three times faster than our forests, with 35% gone since 1970, and with them a huge resource for carbon storage, biodiversity, natural habitat and flooding & pollution control. Nick will talk through the work that the London Wetland Centre are doing to restore them; and on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) a natural approach to managing surface-level water, improving water quality and preventing flooding.

ABOUT ...

WOLVES LANE CENTRE ...https://www.wolveslane.org/
A horticultural and community food growing centre, working towards a fairer food future by inspiring growing and change, rooted in social, racial and environmental justice. They are on a mission to make good food accessible to all, which includes growing and distributing sustainably produced food and plants, and offering a hub for education, enterprise and community events.

BLACK ROOTZ ... https://ubele.org/our-work/black-rootz/
Established in 2019, Black Rootz is the first multigenerational Black-led growing project in the UK, set up in response to the need for better representation of marginalised peoples in food growing systems. The focus is on enterprise, empowerment, health and heritage, with the older generation sharing their expertise on growing, as well as fruit and veg usually not grown here; whilst also supporting youth engagement in their surrounding natural environment.

WWT (Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust) ... https://www.wwt.org.uk/
A global charity on a mission to restore wetlands and unlock their power. WWT is working to create and restore 100,000 hectares of wetlands in the UK by 2050 and to improve 1 million hectares of wetlands through locally-led action in priority hotspots around the world.

YVONNE FIELD OBE ...
Yvonne Field is a distinguished community leader, activist, and social entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience championing racial and social justice. Born in South London to Jamaican parents of the Windrush generation, her early experiences of racism sparked a lifelong commitment to equity, empowerment, and community ownership.

For 20 years, Yvonne led her own consultancy and training company, supporting individuals and organisations in leadership development, social impact, and community transformation. She also spent a decade teaching at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she mentored and inspired future changemakers.

In 2014, she founded The Ubele Initiative, a Black-led social enterprise driving systemic change across the UK. Under her visionary leadership, Ubele has empowered thousands of leaders, distributed over £13.5 million in pandemic relief, and launched The Phoenix Way, a £63.7 million participatory grant-making programme.

Alongside her role at Ubele, Yvonne is Director of the Wolves Lane Centre, a 3.5‑acre community food-growing and learning hub in North London rooted in social, racial, and environmental justice. Since 2019, she has played a key leadership role in the strategic development and governance of the site, helping to shape Wolves Lane as a nationally recognised model of community ownership, agroecology, and inclusive enterprise. The Centre is co-owned by community organisations and supports food growing, skills training, wellbeing, and grassroots economic activity.

Yvonne has shaped national enterprise strategy, led global leadership programmes, and consistently championed intergenerational leadership and community wealth-building. Her outstanding contributions have been recognised with an OBE, a RIBA Honorary Fellowship, and induction into the Charity Hall of Fame.

MUSWELL HILL SUSTAINABILITY GROUP (MHSG) ... https://mhsgroup.org/
A community, volunteer-led group, founded in 2008 to support and promote a more sustainable future, to raise awareness of climate change and to encourage people in Muswell Hill and surrounding areas to reduce carbon emissions, through regular workshops, speaker meetings, tours, webinars, book clubs, green social events and their annual Green Open Homes autumn event.