Benjamin Kelsey on what he learned while helping to transform the grounds of St Peter’s Church in Bounces Road

Benjamin Kelsey volunteering at the church

When I first picked up the strimmer in the garden of St Peter’s Church in Edmonton, I didn’t imagine how it would change the way I saw myself and shape the community around me.

After graduating from university a year ago, I began volunteering there when I needed something to do – and to fill a gap in my CV.

To begin with the tasks were simple, such as helping with foodbank deliveries, lifting heavy bags and mowing lawns. Then I took up the task of strimming the front gardens, which had been overgrown with bristles, and hoeing out weed to make room for a future flower bed.

Every time I did it, neighbours would stop as they passed by and encourage me to keep going and that more people should take the initiative to improve their neighbourhood. As my confidence grew, I took on a bigger landscaping project – reshaping how the garden looked entirely.

At first this entailed cutting a straight line with an edging tool and using a plank of wood as a ruler to keep the angle as straight as possible. But this proved to be difficult to manage as nature took its course, with the edge eventually crumbling due to weathering and the weeds inevitably growing back.

I devised a plan to transform the garden with the use of wooden edging boards and decorative grey stones, but I hadn’t bargained on the effort it would take to achieve! I spent two days alone digging out a lengthy channel, so I could eventually fit wooden boards into the ground. Then once that had been completed, in another two days I installed the boards into place and backfilled the open gaps with soil.

Along the way I learnt the value of planning in stages, time management and even the right tools for the job, after a kind landscaper passing by offered some advice.

The church garden during and after its transformation

The last two days I spent laying out the anti-weed tarp, before adding stones to finalise the look I wanted for the garden. But, even after that, I still had to wait for the stones to weather before applying the sealant, so the dust washed away and the resin could stick.

It reiterated to me that jobs like this take time, money and lots of effort. The materials weren’t cheap – it cost just over £200 for all the boards, the stones, the pegs, the netting and the sealant from a garden centre in Crews Hill.

What had started as a small side interest of volunteering turned into something much more meaningful, as I learnt new things I hadn’t anticipated would be part of the process to begin with.

Surprisingly, I even learnt about the rich history of the church itself, while digging out the channel. To my astonishment, I unearthed two coins; an Edwardian farthing that dates to 1906, only ten years from when the church building was completed, and a sixpence from 1954, the year food rationing in Britain ended after the Second World War.

Before this, I hadn’t paid much attention to local history, but knowing someone must’ve dropped these coins as long as 100 years ago was enough to spark intrigue. Holding these two coins in my hand brought the history of the area to life, as I stood wondering about the generations of people who walked through the churchyard before me.

The coins found by Ben while digging at the church

Looking back, the whole endeavour taught me invaluable lessons of resilience, determination and perseverance that I will take with me throughout my life.

Furthermore, I learnt tricks of the trade, such as what tools work best for a project like this: I now know more about landscaping machinery after a passing landscaper, who also offered me casual work as part of his company, told me that digging the channel manually is laborious and could be made easier with the use of a tiller.

There were times I felt disheartened at how laborious and difficult undertaking my plan would be in practice, compared to what I had imagined in theory. But after taking the job in stages, it was satisfying to look back on and gave me a huge sense of achievement having overcome the mental and physical obstacles.

Ultimately, it gave me a sense of pride I didn’t have before, and I hope my efforts stand the test of time so that one day, I may come back to see my small difference in landscaping has shaped the identity of the church and enriched its history further.

Volunteering can take up lots of time and energy with small gains for those other than yourself. But not only does volunteering like this get you outside, you are also helping and encouraging your local community by improving the way it looks.

Accomplishing the goals of your imagination are not always going to be straight forward or easy as they may have originally seemed, but the point of achieving anything is about what you learn from the process and how it can benefit you beyond that.

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