Garden Village Community Advent Windows

I have lived in the Garden Village since 1999, it's a wonderful little area in the midst of Gosforth that i feel has a village esk feel to it. There is a lot of debate about which streets belong to the Garden Village however in the name of community the Garden Village is an area of streets off and around Hollywood Avenue. When moving back home Sam and I discussed constantly where we would settle, whether that would be the country or the city, we chose the city and aptly decided the Garden Village was where we wished to reside. We moved in to our home in January 2016, and my new years resolution was to bring a community minded spirit to where i lived, this was when the idea of the community advent windows began. 

A friend of mine's Mum lives in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, each year they inform me of the advent window display they are putting together, i loved the concept and the idea of a new window being displayed each day of advent, the idea of a living advent window and it being a community minded activity. 

I decided that the Garden Village was perfect for the advent windows, it could be carried out as a circular trail if we got enough houses and i felt if i could involve the Garden Village Hall the trail could end there on Christmas Eve for Christmas Carol Singing (a yearly tradition). I carried out research on what i wanted the first leaflet to look like, as felt the best way to see who was interested was a good old fashioned leaflet drop, the first leaflet needed to have specific information about what the project was, what was expected from people and the importance of what it could bring to our community, however i was aware people may be cautious, thinking it would come at a cost or be linked to a specific group. 

The uptake started and with every email i got a spark of excitement, by Tuesday i had 12 people - i decided at this number i would definitely run the advent windows but it would be every other day, however over the next week the spaces started to fill up and eventually we ended up with 26 windows, i decided that 3 would open on Christmas Eve as i wanted everyone to be involved who wanted to be.  

Sammy put together the trail and produced the map, which i was so happy with, can you see the secret sleigh? To put the route together i found out what dates people could do and couldn't do and attempted to arrange the trail route the best i could around these dates.

Everyone was happy with the dates given and i asked for a description from each home of their window display and who and how it had come together. I felt it would give the windows a life and an understanding for those carrying the trail out. I decided to not advertise anywhere but the local community and our facebook page as i wanted it to be a community based trail and not opened out to all. The Garden Village committee also got involved and it was decided the houses that were no24 windows would be around the Garden Village Hall so we could all enjoy carols there after the advent trail. 

We did a 2nd leaflet drop of the maps, meaning that even if people weren't doing a window they could enjoy the advent trail.

It was incredible to see people out on the trail, we took advent day 1 and i did a picture of me walking Socks.

On day 1 there was a flock of folk outside the house, admiring the window, holding their maps and joyfully embracing the festive display. The month carried on like this, everyday a new display lit up and i shared the image with the description on facebook. 

We decided on the 24th to serve hot chocolate and mulled cider and invite everybody around to ours to do a joint trail. We couldn't believe how many people came by, i think we counted 50-60, everyone brought a cup, we served up then enjoyed a wonderful wintery Christmassy walk. The feeling was amazing, i had a few tears with the wonder that was such an incredible community and being part of a new tradition, there was so many positive words shared and everyone loved the windows, the creativity came in so many different ways and seeing everyone's individual window was amazing, but seeing everyone enjoying each other's windows on the walk was the icing on the cake. 

to see more of the windows check out Garden Village Community Advent on facebook.