Willow weaving on the meadow

We had an extra-special gardening club on Saturday with artists Penny Sadubin and Elsa Godfrey teaching us how to weave with willow. As it turns out, we had some natural-born weavers who created some incredible willow sculptures for the meadow. The creations are still there if you want to take a look!

The gardening club will be taking a break over the summer, but will be back and better than ever in autumn, so stay tuned...

If you need some willow woven, ask these two. They'd never woven before but their creation was AMAZING!

A willow butterfly with wildflower decorations.

A wavey willow screen in progress.

The finishing touches.

Willow weavers are go!

Penny Sadubin (our resident willow expert) adds some extra support to a willow fence.

Our pals from Friends of Homerton Station dropped by for lunch!

Free willow weaving workshop with Penny Sadubin - Saturday 9 June

After the Jubilee break, the gardening club is back for an extra-special session: willow weaving with amazing local artists Penny Sadubin and Elsa Godfrey.

Penny and Elsa are expert at working with natural materials, so come to the meadow on Saturday 9 June from 12pm-2pm when they'll be teaching us how to make a design on paper, then weave it in freshly-cut willow. After that, we'll all make a large willow sculpture to leave in the meadow so everyone can enjoy it.

The workshop will be loads of fun for kids, and great for anyone keen to learn a new skill and get creative - so everyone's welcome. All materials will be provided and there'll be free drinks and snacks too. See you then!

Mabley's Willow Weavers

On 25 September, artist Elsa Godfrey brought her amazing willow ball to the meadow and invited everyone and anyone to get involved and weave a new piece of willow into it. The ball started off life as a piece commissioned for Landscape of Change, a recent exhibition at BHVU Gallery, Stoke Newington - and it'll be growing even bigger over the next few months. To follow it's progress, take a look here.

Bluebell planting and willow weaving workshop - Sunday 25 September

This weekend's going to be fantastic - with not one but two great events happening on the meadow. So come on down on Sunday 25 September from 12pm-4pm and get stuck in!

Bluebell Planting

Artist Penny Sabudin will be helping bring the endangered British Bluebell back from the brink by leading a planting session in the meadow. So next spring we'll have the makings of our very own bluebell wood! Come along, learn how to plant these rare beauties and help save them from extinction.

Willow weaving workshop

Penny will be joined by fellow artist Elsa Godfrey, who's weaving a giant ball made from willow stems. (You might know Elsa's work already - she made the huge woven ball in Clissold Park). Everyone's welcome to add a stem to Elsa's newest project, and learning about willow weaving along the way. It's a great activity for kids, and a thanks to the flyover, we'll be able to weave rain or shine.

See you there!