A picturesque town with more than 900 Grade II listed houses and public buildings, Port Sunlight was founded in 1888 by the industrialist William Lever as a self-contained community for his soap factory workers.
The village today is an immaculately preserved example of early town planning. A prototypical garden city, Port Sunlight’s manicured gardens and parklands offer abundant green space for the village’s residents and visitors, while cultural institutions like the Lady Lever Art Gallery and The Gladstone Theatre provide access to the arts.
With just 2,000 residents, Port Sunlight is home to a small but thriving community
The allotment experience has always played a huge part in my life, from accompanying my parents as a young child to becoming a tenant myself many years ago.
As the lockdown of 2020 began, the freedom of being in such a space was instrumental to helping maintain a healthy work/life balance within the constraints put upon us. The sowing, planting and nurturing of seeds was symbolic of hope for the future. Along with cultivation, friendships too were founded on our plots and a sense of community and comradeship thrived. Our own piece of heaven where we could escape the limitations placed upon us by the pandemic.
As the VE-Day celebrations drew ever closer, I thought about the similarities of that time of hardship with the present day. Once again people were coming together to offer support to those in need. I decided to mark the occasion by dressing up as a Land Army Girl on the allotment, as a tribute to this historic event.
The cycle of growing is comparable with the cycle of life. Transformation happens when conditions are favourable. The growth of our community has deepened and flourished in these adverse conditions and will always be remembered as a time of togetherness.