On Tuesday 1 November, a group of LSE Geography and Environment Students travelled to Mill Hill Broadway to spend the morning volunteering with The Orchard Project.
The Orchard Project is the only national charity dedicated solely to the creation, restoration and celebration of community orchards. They work closely with community groups in hubs around England and Scotland helping to plant new orchards and restore older orchards that will last for decades to come. They offer training, work with schools, run fantastic orchard celebration events and help groups make the most of their bumper harvests. Recently the Urban Orchard Project set up a cider and juice making enterprise to help to sustain their work and give back to the communities they work with.
After meeting Rosa, one of The Orchard Project staff members, at the station the group had a short walk to the orchard. Nestled on the grounds of an old monastery the orchard had not been looked after for many years.
After a tour of the orchard and a briefing session about how The Orchard Project plan to help the orchard survive for many generations to enjoy, the volunteers set to work.
One of the key tasks was to harvest the last of the summer fruit and LSE volunteers did a remarkable job, collecting 180kgs of apples (roughly 12 crates)!
Finally, Abby and Rosa, the enthusiastic Orchard Project staff, shared their career stories with students and explained their paths into the environmental sector as well as what their current work involves.
After a successful morning and an excellent harvest the apples were taken to the cider house in Herne Hill and turned into unique London apple cider!
