Sarah’s idea to transform the neglected King’s Scholars’ Passage into a street garden began as a fleeting thought while passing the alley for years. In 2020, with the support of The Passage, her neighbour Bridget, and local partners, she pitched the project and began turning vision into reality. Through collaboration with clients, volunteers and fundraisers, the alley slowly grew into a thriving garden alive with plants and pollinators. Along the way, they honoured Marcus, a Passage client whose humour and care left a lasting mark, and were later recognised with The Marcus Davies Community Engagement Award. Today, the garden stands as a testament to resilience, shared purpose, and the power of people coming together to rewild and reclaim public space.
For more stories about community-led change and shared stewardship, discover how Nigel has worked to protect and restore public spaces across Victoria, or read Bridget’s story of bringing King’s Scholars’ Passage to life through collective care. Hear the full collection of Voices from the Piazza stories.
It is 10 February 2020 and I am standing in the reception of the homeless shelter, The Passage on King’s Scholars’ Passage. I live only right next door, yet it had taken me over a decade to walk through its doors.
For the previous 16 years on my way to work I would pass the entrance of King’s Scholars’ Passage and sense the melancholy of the place. Strewn with sodden newspapers, cardboard and abandoned sleeping bags, plastic bags catching the wind and the overwhelming stench of urine our little alleyway. And every morning I had the momentary thought that this little alleyway could be transformed into a street garden like the quaint mews streets of Kensington & Chelsea, our more salubrious and elegant neighbour.
And now, my life had changed. I had left the company I had worked at for many years and my three children were now teenagers. I felt untethered and aimless, grasping for something new and a sense of purpose. That was when that recurring, fleeting thought of creating a street garden began to take root. King’s Scholars’ Passage is home to The Passage building, so before anything else I needed their approval That’s how I came to be standing in their reception waiting to meet the CEO, Mick Clarke.
I expected we would be having an informal chat in his office but instead he ushered me into a room with six of his senior staff members. Suddenly I was pitching a project with no real plan just the conviction that together local residents and The Passage could clean up King’s Scholars’ Passage and transform it into a garden.
Mick and his team were enthusiastic and supportive. I asked my friend, and neighbour, Bridget, if she would like to be involved and thankfully she embraced the concept coming up with ideas, proposing solutions to potential problems and bringing a creative vision to the project. Bridget, Mick and I met with Westminster Council, to discuss our plans, and it seemed our project had potential.
Then the world shut down.
On 23 March 2020 the UK went into the first Covid lockdown and the council understandably went silent. Months passed and it seemed our project was dead. In November Mick, Bridget, and I had a Zoom meeting and agreed to go ahead with the garden and just see what happened.
By January 2021, we’d scavenged enough second-hand pots and plants and make a start, which is when we met the irrepressible Viv. Viv is a frontline worker at Montfort House, which is the residential part of The Passage. With Covid limiting indoor activities she was looking for ways to engage her clients. Our gardening project fit the bill, so with Viv’s gentle persuasion her clients gradually became involved in the garden.
There was sweet, gentle John, gregarious Jade who never stopped talking, reserved Bob, and Marcus.
I didn’t know then how important Marcus and Bob would become. Loveable Marcus with his deadpan sense of humour, endlessly patrolling the garden with two watering cans, tending to the plants while complaining about the cooking smells emitted from the local restaurants that backed onto the garden.
Bob, ever practical and creative, diligently scrubbed out pots and troughs and photographed everything we planted as a record of the garden. Both were very protective of the garden and of Bridget, Viv and me, vehemently moving on anyone who wandered into the alley for antisocial intent. Bob has now moved on from The Passage but often comes back to see us and help in the garden. He is fit, healthy and energetic pursuing his creative interests.
As the garden grew, so did our need for money. Enter The Passage’s fundraising team of Emma, Emily and Sceherazade – applying for grants and connecting us with donors.
When our gardening efforts became more strenuous, we met two new Passage clients: Senay from Eritrea and Naz from Sudan. Both had been in the UK for a while and occasionally we got glimpses of the tragedies of their pasts and how they got to London. Both were young and strong and worked hard planting our big olive trees and doing all the heavy work. Senay, cheeky and good fun continued to help us in the garden even after securing accommodation, cycling from Croydon to Victoria and back. Naz was quieter, thoughtful, considerate, an absolute gentleman and always smartly dressed. To see him in the street you would never guess he was homeless. One day he said to me all he wanted to do was to pay tax.
Today, Michael, another passage client volunteers with us maintaining the original garden, so that Bridget and I and the other volunteers can focus on new planting.
The project now extends the entire length of King’s Scholars’ Passage, thanks to Emily in the fundraising team. Through her networks she introduced us to Oliver and Alison at London Heritage Quarter who earlier this year arranged and funded the design, installation and planting of railing troughs down the entire length of Carlisle Mansions. This summer it was alive with bees and butterflies and in time it will look like a country lane hedgerow in the heart of London.
Five years on, and we still work on the garden two afternoons a week. Occasionally pots are smashed and plants ripped out. In the early years this was upsetting. Now the garden is larger and has a sense of permanence. It is still resilient enough to absorb the blows and whenever we need repairs done or have maintenance or planting jobs to do, George in The Passage’s Corporate fundraising team rallies up corporate volunteers to help.
But there is a painful part to this story. We lost Marcus just a few months after we started the project.
Our dear funny Marcus passed away. The Passage held a memorial where I met his younger brother who told me about Marcus’ early life and how much he had enjoyed working in the garden. I told him how we loved Marcus’s sense of humour and valued his contribution. A plaque now hangs outside Montfort House in his memory.
A few months later, at a Passage event attended by their patron Prince William, Bridget and I were presented with The Marcus Davies Community Engagement Award. Marcus’ brother was there and was moved to see how much his brother had been valued and loved.
Looking back, I see the King’s Scholars’ Passage Community Garden as a serendipitous collision of likeminded people and events. Without my midlife drift, I might never have mentioned the idea to Mick and Bridget. Without Covid, Viv may never have been searching for outdoor activities. And without The Passage’s staff and clients, the garden would’ve remained a glimmer of an idea.