Care Theme

Provision I invite you to stand in my shoes In the space between dark and light To imagine a room laid bare Where you sleep in the bath In the clothes you wear every day Because you don’t have a bed or Even a mattress on the floor To rest your tired frame. You are in crisis Slipped through the cracks It doesn’t matter how or why Just that you are here Needing help Needing compassion Practical support To get back on your feet To feel cared for Provided for Prayers answered. I sit here listening to Blur On the CD player I have just bought from Provision House A beacon-topped Aladdin’s cave of treasures That occupies a space right opposite It’s higher calling Old Co-op Old shoe shop New lease of life For this art-deco giant Three floors of stepping back in time Down history rich stairs Through formica inlaid doors Its belly stuffed with Furniture and bedding Tables and lamps Wardrobes and kitchenware The things that we take for granted Destined for those that have nothing Absolutely nothing A lifeline. In the shop I can still buy a pair of shoes Anything an old department store may well have stocked Ironic I feel. They save the sleeping bags To hand to homeless folk Health-packs and new socks Whatever helps. The Food Club caters for those That need to feed themselves Their families On budgets stretched to breaking They mind the gap that governments should fill By remembering that everybody counts Black Country rules. Kim chats to a woman Buying sticker-books for her granddaughter Laughter slips through this conversation Two books for a pound and you know The girl will have a fun filled afternoon. I ask about the future Plans for expansion Rooms to hire Office space Training programmes on their way Perhaps a life for the room upstairs and I see progress New from old Right from wrong. So, step through this door and lend a hand To those that need it more than You and I will ever understand.

Street plant sightings The charted planting is a selection of the current extent of the high street. As discovered, the area has little to no variance, with the exception of the more developed properties at either end of the high street. These properties generally have more trees and mature planting around them, making them more appreciative of the biodiversity. Facing the high street, there is approximately 2690m2 of greenery, the majority of which is situated at either end, on the property of the two churches. Ignoring these numbers, the area of greenery drops significantly due to the limited overgrowth around lampposts, bins and along the store fronts. For the wider biodiversity of the high street the select amount greenery provides very little benefit for nesting wildlife. Within the developed properties more thought and appreciation can be given to accommodate a more diverse spread of wildlife and planting. Along the high street there is little consideration for interactions with the wider biodiversity, a few trees (provided by the council) and strip of high level planting along a store front. As for the rest of the ‘greenery’ along the high street, this could be seen more as neglect from the cleaning and maintenance of the street. The remaining biodiversity identified comes from areas that have retained water from lack of drainage and moisture retention. Seen around the street furniture, grass, weeds and moss can be seen growing along the gaps between paviers and along gutters. Despite being ‘greenery’ these areas provide no benefit to the biodiversity and are more of a sign that the council have no intention to improve the state of the area. Within the developed quarters, the majority of the biodiversity is grassland, which too only has a limited positive environmental impact. The two churches provide an excellent coverage of their respective sights and can provide a good quality of air and absorption of CO2 due to the large number of trees and bushes . Whilst the grasslands are a welcoming sight, they play a very little roll in absorbing CO2 and to provide other positive environmental impacts that the larger greenery does.