Local chicken keeper and one of the garden’s Trustees, Lorraine Jackson, will allow children and adults to meet and stroke her chickens and answer questions on how she looks after chickens in her small Oxford garden.

Lorraine says, “keeping chickens in your garden is lots of fun and of course you get lovely fresh eggs. I hope to encourage more people to take up this rewarding activity.”

Julia Hollander, author of When the Bough Breaks which she also dramatised for Radio 4, will be launching her new book in the garden on keeping chickens. Chicken Coops for the Soul is a record of the five year journey charting the joys and challenges that face any aspiring poultry keeper. Julia will give a workshop on keeping chickens, their housing, food, health, social habits, weeding abilities and more. Julia will also advise on the legal issues around home grown eggs. Copies of the book will be available to purchase.

Julia says “most people don’t realise that you are allowed to keep chickens in urban gardens and on allotments. My workshop will show how this is possible, and my new book will give all the information a budding chicken keeper needs”.

Barracks Lane Community Garden’s Chicken Day event is part of a series of Local Food Programme events being put on at the garden between 2010 and 2012. The workshops are free and open to all. The garden is situated on Barracks Lane, off Cumberland Road, in East Oxford. See website  http://www.barrackslanegarden.org.uk for further details.

ENDS
Notes
1. The event is on from 11am to 5pm on Saturday 12th July 2010. The book launch will take place at 2pm. A full programme of the event can be found at:  http://www.barrackslanegarden.org.uk/events.php.
2. Barracks Lane Community Garden is a community-run green space off the Cowley Road in East Oxford. It hosts many regular events as well as special and annual events. It is also open every weekend from Easter to autumn for all to visit and enjoy. The garden can be booked for children’s parties, meetings, workshops, and other community events.
Barracks Lane Community Garden, Barracks Lane, off Cumberland Road, Oxford OX4 2AP, E: barrackslanegarden@yahoo.co.uk, W: http://www.barrackslanegarden.org.uk/
3. Julia Hollander, previously an opera director, is now a writer, journalist and playwright. She is the author of Indian Folk Theatres (Routledge, 2007) and When the Bough Breaks (John Murray, 2008), which she also dramatised for Radio 4. She has written features and blogs for the Guardian and Telegraph newspapers and for a variety of magazines including Opera Now, The Spectator and Red. Julia lives in Oxford with her family and chickens. Chicken Coops for the Soul is available from Guardian Books,  http://www.guardianbooks.co.uk/.
4. Local Food: has been developed by a consortium of 15 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme, Local Food will distribute grants to a variety of food related projects to make locally grown food more accessible. www.localfood.org

The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT): is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to promote conservation and manage environmental programmes throughout the whole of the UK. It has established management systems for holding and distributing funds totalling more than £20 million annually to environmental projects across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme funds a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the local environment. The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK.
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

For further information please contact:
John Green and Annie Davy (Trustees)
36 Kenilworth Avenue, Oxford OX4 2AN
Tel: 01865 249 450