CFGN x LWA South East: Urban-Rural Exchange & Spring Gathering

On Saturday 18th April, Community Food Growers’ Network (CFGN) and Landworkers’ Alliance South East are co-hosting our annual Spring Gathering, welcoming existing, past and future members of our networks to come together, connect, share food, dream into what fruits our collaboration may bring and celebrate the launch of our Urban-Rural Exchange Programme!

We are super excited to come together once again - for urban growers, community chefs, countryside workers, food justice organisers and rural dwellers to break bread together and share our joys, struggles, visions and areas of support for the season ahead.

Over the last 5 years, we have been asking and listening to what urban and rural growers, dwellers and workers in our regions want from our networks, and have now successfully secured some funding from Farming The Future to respond to this! So we are really excited to be launching our Urban-Rural Exchange Programme which will focus on exchanging skills and knowledge across growing settings and environments, alongside exploring Anti-Oppression in land work. We would love to explore and set some intentions for our ongoing work and organising together, and to hear from you about what would support you, your project and your community in this. We seek to hold an emergent space, shaped by what you bring, and what we make together.

Day's agenda //

12pm - gentle arrivals (10 mins)

12.10am - housekeeping and Mística opening (20 mins)

12.30pm - intros + first session: imagining utopic urban/rural futures (1 hour with 10 min break in middle)

1.30pm - lunchtime with vegan Indian food from Cafe Thenga (45 mins)

2.15pm - second session:

•  Site tour and community organising in action with Q&A (40 mins)

• 2.55pm energiser activity (15 minutes)

• working session: building next steps together (40 mins)

4pm - closing + reflections + follow up actions (30 mins)

4.30pm - finish

4.30pm onwards - social -  nearby venue TBC

Accessibility //

It is really important to us to make this gathering as accessible as possible, this includes physical, sensory, linguistic, financial, neurological, cultural, social and emotional access. Please let us know what we can put in place to support you to be there by filling in this form, including dietary requirements.

• The venue is wheelchair accessible

• We will have a soft space

• Toilets are on the ground floor

• We will have a welfare support person in the space who'll be available to talk through anything you may need. Please ask our team on the day if you need some support.

• We will provide BSL/captioning on request - please let us know!

• This will be a dry event (without alcohol, with other delicious drink options)

• Children are welcome to attend and participate in the sessions. If you would like to bring children, please let us know emailing info@cfgn.org.uk by 28th March so we can arrange childcare / child friendly sessions in time to allow everyone to participate.

COVID POLICY //

As part of our commitment to resilient communities, we have a covid policy in place to practice collective care and solidarity. We recognise that the pandemic is a mass disabling event, that has disproportionately affected BPOC and disabled communities.

We ask in the spirit of solidarity and disability justice that you DON’T attend if you have any covid symptoms or feel unwell/have symptoms you believe may be contagious.

We ask that you test before coming and encourage mask wearing during the gathering if you feel comfortable doing so. We will provide masks and ensure air flow through the indoor spaces, so please bring extra layers to stay warm with open windows.

If you have any questions or suggestions around this or any accessibility points, please get in touch. Accessibility contact: info@cfgn.org.uk // 07952003624

Safer Spaces //

We are working together to ensure that this is a non-oppressive, respectful and accessible space. We have a Safer Spaces Policy adapted from the LWA’s 2021 AGM - feel free to add your comments, thoughts and ideas to this. We are also creating a safer spaces skillshare /tool kit where attendees and organisers can propose different strategies for bringing the policy and intentions to life.

Food & Drink //

We will be providing a delicious Indian vegan lunch from a local restaurant, this is included in your ticket price. 

Ticket Options //

• Standard ticket - £8

• ‘Gift it forward’ standard ticket + ticket donation - £16

• Solidarity ticket (supported ticket if finance is a barrier to attending) - £2

• Child lunch ticket - £5

• Free child ticket - £0

• We have a number of free tickets if anyone needs one - email info@cfgn.org.uk to request one

TRAVEL //

Calthorpe Community Garden is around 500 metres from King’s Cross station. Metropolitan line, Northern line, Piccadilly line, Circle line, Hammersmith & City and Victoria line go to King’s Cross station, alongside many mainline national rail services. Bus routes 17, 45, & 46 stop nearby the garden.

We encourage LWA SE members coming from outside of London to travel together. The LWA South East organising team can cover travel to the event - please email southeastengland@landworkersalliance.org.uk to let the team know you need support with travel costs. Travel bursaries will be issued as an expense claim after you pay for fuel/transport, so we’ll need you to provide a photo of receipts and bank details. The travel bursary will either cover the full amount or a portion of your claim, depending on how many requests we receive.

We have set up a lift-share document (link) for attendees to self-organise and travel together. Please carefully read the instructions and do not give out other peoples’ contact details without seeking consent first. We will delete this form after the event.

A little about our shared history…

​​CFGN and LWA South East have been working together to organise events and gatherings since 2021. We formed a partnership in 2022 to formally combine our efforts in the region. We have come together with a shared set of values, and a shared vision to support an agroecological movement which incorporates both urban and rural actors. We aim to achieve this vision by sharing knowledge, resources and benefits across our combined communities and memberships.

In September 2024 we produced a Partnership Proposal (which you can read here), and we invited feedback from our combined members, asking what they wanted to see from the partnership in future. Through this gentle, gradual, collective process, we have developed ‘The Urban Rural Exchange’, a 1.5 year long funded project, which we’re excited to be launching with you in April 2026!