Local photographers capture the beauty of ‘What's Growing on the Greenway'

Take a trip along the Connswater Community Greenway and you will see a whole range of beautiful flowers and plants, but do you know what they are? A new book called ‘What’s Growing on the Greenway’ launched by EastSide Partnership and The Paul Hogarth Company celebrates the beautiful plants, people and places which make the Greenway a wonderful place to explore.

The content of the book is the result of an online blog, ‘What’s Growing on the Greenway’, developed by Connswater Community Greenway and inspired by the New York High Line’s ‘Plant of the Week’ blog. The ‘What’s Growing on the Greenway’ blog featured a new plant each week and encouraged local people to get outdoors, find the plant and connect with the landscape along the Greenway. Local people produced photos and images capturing their favourite species supported by interesting facts and trivia about the plant and where they could be found.

Featured plants and local photographers include:

• Himalayan Birch by Colin McAlister
• Moss by Paul Hunter
• Maple by Karen Oliver
• Weeping Willow by Dave Caughey
• Common Knapweed by Aaron Matchett
• Daffodil by Jonathon Clark

Thanks to a £40 million investment, the Connswater Community Greenway has created a safer, cleaner, greener public space and 9km linear park, connecting people and places along the course of the Connswater, Knock and Loop rivers in east Belfast. An £11 million flood alleviation scheme incorporated into the project has helped to reduce flooding to 1700 properties. The project was developed by EastSide Partnership and delivered in partnership with Belfast City Council with investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and The Northern Ireland Executive.

Michele Bryans, Connswater Community Greenway Trust Manager, said:

“We are delighted to publish and launch our first book in partnership with The Paul Hogarth Company capturing some of the wonderful landscape which has helped to brighten and regenerate the local east Belfast area. We hope the book will appeal to local people, visitors and will be a fantastic education resource for children and families. In particular we wish to acknowledge Cameron Landscapes and the local people who have helped us plant the Greenway and hope they continue to take ownership of the project for many years to come.”

Anthony McGuigan, Director, The Paul Hogarth Company said,

“Writing this book with the Connswater Community Greenway team has been a wonderful and thought provoking process exploring how one of our design and construction projects is so well used and loved in the local community. I hope that readers enjoy discovering the new and revitalised locations and discussing the plants that help make them special as much as my colleague Darren and I did.”

The ‘What’s Growing on the Greenway’ book is available to purchase from EastSide Visitor Centre priced £7.99 or online here. Follow Connswater Community Greenway on Facebook to keep up to date with the latest news.