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I’m very pleased to welcome this evening’s guest speaker, Mark Logan, who’s going to tell us about the recent transformation of Minster Park. Over to you, Mark.

Thank you. I’m sure you’re all familiar with Minster Park. It’s been a feature of the city for well over a century, and has been the responsibility of the city council for most of that time.

What perhaps isn’t so well known is the origin of the park: unlike many public parks that started in private ownership, as the garden of a large house, for instance, Minster was some waste land, which people living nearby started planting with flowers in 1892.

It was unclear who actually owned the land, and this wasn’t settled until 20 years later, when the council took possession of it.

You may have noticed the statue near one of the entrances. It’s of Diane Gosforth, who played a key role in the history of the park. Once the council had become the legal owner, it planned to sell the land for housing.

Many local people wanted it to remain a place that everyone could go to, to enjoy the fresh air and natural environment – remember the park is in a densely populated residential area.

Diane Gosforth was one of those people, and she organised petitions and demonstrations, which eventually made the council change its mind about the future of the land.

Soon after this the First World War broke out, in 1914, and most of the park was dug up and planted with vegetables, which were sold locally.

At one stage the army considered taking in over for troop exercises and got as far as contacting the city council, then decided the park was too small to be of use. There were occasional public meetings during the war, in an area that had been retained as grass.

After the war, the park was turned back more or less to how it had been before 1914, and continued almost unchanged until recently.

Plans for transforming it were drawn up at various times, most recently in 2013, though they were revised in 2015, before any work had started. The changes finally got going in 2016, and were finished on schedule last year.

OK, let me tell you about some of the changes that have been made – and some things that have been retained. If you look at this map, you’ll see the familiar outline of the park, with the river forming the northern boundary, and a gate in each of the other three walls.

The statue of Diane Gosforth has been moved: it used to be close to the south gate, but it’s now immediately to the north of the lily pond, almost in the centre of the park, which makes it much more visible.

There’s a new area of wooden sculptures, which are on the river bank, where the path from the east gate makes a sharp bend.

There are two areas that are particularly intended for children. The playground has been enlarged and improved, and that’s between the river and the path that leads from the pond to the river.

Then there’s a new maze, a circular series of paths, separated by low hedges. That’s near the west gate – you go north from there towards the river and then turn left to reach it.

There have been tennis courts in the park for many years, and they’ve been doubled, from four to eight. They’re still in the south-west corner of the park, where there’s a right-angle bend in the path.

Something else I’d like to mention is the new fitness area. This is right next to the lily pond on the same side as the west gate.

Now, as you’re all gardeners, I’m sure you’ll like to hear about the plants that have been chosen for the park.

I’m going to report on a case study of a programme which has been set up to help rural populations in Mozambique, a largely agricultural country in South-East Africa.

The programme worked with three communities in Chicualacuala district, near the Limpopo River. This is a dry and arid region, with unpredictable rainfall.

Because of this, people in the area were unable to support themselves through agriculture and instead they used the forest as a means of providing themselves with an income, mainly by selling charcoal.

However, this was not a sustainable way of living in the long term, as they were rapidly using up this resource.

To support agriculture in this dry region, the programme focused primarily on making use of existing water resources from the Limpopo River by setting up systems of irrigation, which would provide a dependable water supply for crops and animals.

The programme worked closely with the district government in order to find the best way of implementing this. The region already had one farmers’ association, and it was decided to set up two more of these.

These associations planned and carried out activities including water management, livestock breeding and agriculture, and it was notable that in general, women formed the majority of the workforce.

It was decided that in order to keep the crops safe from animals, both wild and domestic, special areas should be fenced off where the crops could be grown. The community was responsible for creating these fences, but the programme provided the necessary wire for making them.

Once the area had been fenced off, it could be cultivated. The land was dug, so that vegetables and cereals appropriate to the climate could be grown, and the programme provided the necessary seeds for this.

The programme also provided pumps so that water could be brought from the river in pipes to the fields. However, the labour was all provided by local people, and they also provided and put up the posts that supported the fences around the fields.

Once the programme had been set up, its development was monitored carefully. The farmers were able to grow enough produce not just for their own needs, but also to sell.

However, getting the produce to places where it could be marketed was sometimes a problem, as the farmers did not have access to transport, and this resulted in large amounts of produce, especially vegetables, being spoiled.

This problem was discussed with the farmers’ associations and it was decided that in order to prevent food from being spoiled, the farmers needed to learn techniques for its preservation.

There was also an additional initiative that had not been originally planned, but which became a central feature of the programme. This was when farmers started to dig holes for tanks in the fenced-off areas and to fill these with water and use them for breeding fish – an important source of protein.

After a time, another suggestion was made by local people which hadn’t been part of the programme’s original proposal, but which was also adopted later on. They decided to try setting up colonies of bees, which would provide honey both for their own consumption and to sell.

So what lessons can be learned from this programme? First of all, it tells us that in dry, arid regions, if there is access to a reliable source of water, there is great potential for the development of agriculture.

In Chicualacuala, there was a marked improvement in agricultural production, which improved food security and benefited local people by providing them with both food and income.

However, it’s important to set realistic timelines for each phase of the programme, especially for its design, as mistakes made at this stage may be hard to correct later on.

The programme demonstrates that sustainable development is possible in areas where …