How urban gardening sowed the seeds of Cassie’s future

Cassie, now 21, admits she only signed up for an after-school gardening workshop run by Global Generation to force herself out of her comfort zone and make friends. For a couple of hours each week she joined students from several schools in North London looking after urban gardens in Kings Cross. The gardens were made by putting soil in old waste skips which would otherwise have been sent to landfill.

Cassie, who was born in Spain to Filipino parents said, “I was very shy growing up and my parents liked me to come straight home after school. When I joined [the Global Generation workshops] it was primarily a social thing because there were so many different people from different schools.

“I don’t think I could have done it on my own, so I would wait for my friend Lucy at the gate before the sessions started. I was too shy to go in by myself.”

The ‘lightbulb moment’ occurred when Cassie returned from a workshop where she’d been making cosmetics and balms made from plants grown in the skips. She started chatting to her mum about the cosmetics and for the first time, her mother began talking about her life in the Philippines. Cassie said, “We also talked about nature and how important the environment is. I don’t think any of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Global Generation.”

Cassie’s interest in ecology has blossomed. She graduated with a degree in environment and sustainability last year and is now looking for a career in the ESG (environmental, social and governance) sector. In the meantime, she’s become a Global Generation ‘fellow’, helping to promote the project’s aim of “Growing food, people and community for a just world”.

Whenever she has time, Cassie heads to the Story Garden, a site adjacent to The British Museum. It has been Global Generation’s main urban garden for the past six years. As well as vegetable beds and polytunnels, the Story Garden has a community kitchen and a classroom. Produce grown on the site is cooked or donated to local food banks.

Cassie said, “The Story Garden is such a hidden gem. When most people think of Kings Cross, they think of the train stations or the British Library. But when people stumble into the garden they’re amazed.”

In October 2025, The Story Garden will move once again – this time to a permanent location in Kings Cross. Jemma Pym, Global Generation’s head of fundraising and programmes, said funding from The National Lottery would help set up the new garden and enable Global Generation to move parts of the existing garden into the nearby Somers Town estate.

Jemma said, “The Story Garden sits right next to the estate which is an area of high social deprivation that also has a lack of green spaces. We’ll be moving some of The Story Garden into the estate to help green it.”

Asked how important funding made possible by National Lottery players has been to Global Generation and The Story Garden, Jemma said, “I would say it’s been vital. It’s this kind of long-term funding that enables the work to happen and provides an organisation with the security that ensures the work can move forward.”

4th August 2025