Celebrating Green Gardening Skills East Graduates
The Green Space Skills Hub joins Women in Parks Horticulture Landscape and Hackney Council to celebrate the latest cohort of women graduates who completed the Green Gardening Skills East Course Graduates. After 12 weeks of on-the-ground training, 11 women have qualified with Level 1 Horticulture ready to start their careers in green space!
Managed by Groundwork London and funded by the London Borough of Hackney, this Graduation event took place at West Reservoir in Hackney on 30th September 2026.
Joined by keynote speakers and industry leaders, including designer and educator Humaira Ikram (Studio Ikram) and LLDC’s Ruth Lin Wong Holmes,
The focus of the event was the graduates themselves, who also shared some of their stories in an engaging panel discussion about their entry points to the sector, their thoughts and experiences during the training, and their next steps since their graduation.
The venue itself has recently undertaken a creative transformation, offering outdoor swimming in the reservoir to community members with the backdrop of newly developed gardens that are encouraging nature and rewilding. A tour of the latest design changes took place during the event thanks to the LUC (Land Use Consultants) who played a significant role in the spatial design and transformation of West Reservoir.
The event, designed to celebrate, connect and inspire women and mentees in the sector who are looking to grow with horticulture, were also presented with the latest service offer from volunteers of the Women in Parks Horticulture Landscape group. Volunteer mentees are supporting women into, and through, the crooked path of the green space sector, that isn’t always linear in a heavily male dominant sector.
As the journey for the Green Space Skills Hub evolves, this event was a milestone in celebrating the achievements of employers and initiatives helping to diversify the sector, appeal to everyone as a sector of choice, and give employers and sector leads the opportunity to discover and recruit the untapped talent, skill and experience in the wider job market.
This cohort of GGSE was jointly funded by Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and London Borough of Hackney.
