Green Futures: Youth Eco-Adventure Saturdays

Over twelve weeks, Green Futures brought children, young people and families out to Harts Lane Estate in Dagenham for Saturday eco-adventures — run by Elevate Together with JDS Striving for Excellence and the River Roding Trust.

Each session mixed three hands-on activities: building hideouts and play structures from living willow, mapping local trees and learning why the River Roding and its wildlife matter, and planting and caring for the community garden together.

The project was Elevate Together's part of the Public Realm Innovation Lab — an Innovate UK-funded trial along the River Roding corridor, working alongside Care City, the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, North East London ICB, Arup, Makower Architects, Be First and Connected Places Catapult. The question it set out to answer: what happens when overlooked green spaces along the river are opened up for local people's health?

Forty-three local people took part in the Green Futures nature programme during the trial — and for many it was the first time they had really spent time by the river that runs through their own borough. The project closed with a harvest the young people had grown themselves, pumpkins and all.

Read Care City's full write-up of the River Roding trial

Green Futures has finished for now. If it runs again, members hear first — join free to be on the list.