Story

Caldmore Village Festival group (CVF) was set up in 2009 to regenerate Caldmore area of Walsall and to counter the negative stereotypes often associated with this quite deprived and very diverse neighbourhood.

In its 11 years of existence CVF has established an annual arts festival regularly attracting in excess of five thousand people as well as a wealth of other community based projects, all with a creative focus and with the aim of improving the lives of the people who live in the local communities.

One of CVF’s most successful on-going projects, the Caldmore Community Garden was established in 2011 on a piece of derelict land at the very heart of the community. Staffed entirely by volunteers, the Caldmore Community Garden team transformed this forgotten patch of land into a magical space with wildflower gardens, vegetable patches, orchard, sensory garden and landscaping as well as a performance space and project area.

Since 2016 we also run a community venue - Caldmore Community House - which is a space open to the whole community. It hosts Men's Shed meetings on Mondays, Women's Group on Tuesdays, cooking workshops, coffee mornings, sewing classes, arts and crafts sessions, wellbeing classes, regular volunteering meetings, a weekly youth club, a holiday play scheme for children, and many other activities.

The House and Garden project aims to bring diverse communities together using all the methods mentioned above and maintains a strong commitment to creating opportunities for local people to access resources such as arts, education, free play, and nature, while at the same time encouraging them to get involved, learn practical skills and help shape the space and services it provides for the community around it.

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