SUNDAY 21ST JUNE 2026 

4.30AM – 7.30AM AT SQUASH BUILDING

This summer solstice, on the longest day of the year, come by Squash for an early, gentle community gathering honouring the people, lands & nature of Palestine*. Let us welcome in the dawn of the longest day together, supporting each other. 

Join us, local gardeners & artists and youth-led climate & nature advocacy group MerseyWilders for:

• Solstice fire
• Simple breakfast
• To watch the sun rise together
• Solidarity
• Ritual planting
• Sip Windsor St elderflower cordial
• Rest
• Singing
• Listening
• Gentle movement

Everyone is welcome. Free/by donation (see below).

Please bring something to add to the communal altar & breakfast table (please note Squash is vegetarian & alcohol-free).

Hope Street Harmonies choir will be sharing solstice songs at 7am.

*At our annual squash planting day on 29^th April, we planted squash & cucumber seeds gifted by our friends Exeter Seed Bank. These seeds were grown & saved by the Palestine Local Seed Bank, West Bank & collected by: Petra Mansour in June 2025 when she visited the seed bank. We will be planting on the young squash plants at the Solidarity Solstice gathering.

We first connected with Exeter Seed Bank them when we read their statement condemning the destruction of the Seed Multiplication Unit of the Palestine Local Seed Bank in Hebron by Israeli forces on 31 July 2025.  ‘The destruction of any seed bank is a loss for us all.’

We will be collecting donations this solstice for the Palestine Local Seed Bank, part of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (a Palestinian non-governmental organisation dedicated to supporting farmers and promoting sustainable agricultural practices) to support their vital work restoring and protecting remaining seed sources in Palestine.

A group of Squash gardeners & artists along with MerseyWilders will be walking through the night, via the Mersey & nature spaces, from solstice eve to solstice dawn, to honour those not free to roam or to return to their lands.

‘From the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free.’

Access info: The Squash building is fully accessible including level threshold entrance (shop/cafe) and ramp access to the garden. There is an accessible toilet. Please note the Squash cafe/shop won’t be open during the gathering but building will be accessible for shelter & loos.

Squash, 112-114 Windsor Street, L8 8EQ.

Timings: Sunrise is at 4.43am. Civil twilight from 3.50am

Photos by Jude McLoughlin & Clare Owens

Join us on Windsor Street for 3 days of community action, knowledge sharing & tending hope this spring.

SQUASH PLANTING & SOUP – WEDNESDAY 29TH 11AM-1PM  

At the Grapes Community Garden. DROP-IN / FREE / BY DONATION

Come together to celebrate all things Squash! Each year we plant squashes and celebrate all we’re growing on Windsor Street. Join us for:

• planting many varieties of squash seeds for the community garden and to take home
• live music with Willy on the squeezebox
• chats around the fire
• tasty squash soup
• fresh-picked herb tea

PEOPLE’S EMERGENCY BRIEFING FILM SCREENING – THURSDAY 30TH 6-9PM  

At Squash. BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Join Squash, Mersey Wilders & Friends of Princes Park for a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing; an eye-opening film about climate and nature, and what it means for everyday life in the UK, bringing together nine leading UK scientists and experts with the latest evidence. Full information here THIS SCREENING IS NOW SOLD OUT

BELTANE / MAY DAY DANCING & PLANTING – FRIDAY 1ST MAY 6-8PM

On Windsor Street, outside Squash. DROP-IN / FREE / BY DONATION

Our annual celebration of May Day / Beltane / Bealtaine means dancing on the street and planting seeds…as well as eating, chatting and gathering around the fire to mark the start of summer!

The traditional English May Day festival falls around the same time as Beltane / Bealtaine – the Gaelic/Irish crossfire festival marking the next point of the 8-Fold year that falls sitting half-way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, marking the beginning of summer.  It is also a global moment dedicated to recognising workers’ rights, fair pay, and safe working conditions. At Squash, we celebrate this a potent time, when the spring sap is rising, by mixing up more traditional and contemporary folk elements & customs including Maypole dancing, stick dancing, folk music, altar making, seed planting & singing.

• street Maypole dancing with Kaloco band & Jackie
• stick dancing with Maxine
• songs from Hope Street Harmonies Choir & The Jesse Janes band
• gather around the Beltane fires
• plant a seed
• add your hopes to the altar
• delicious spring menu available in the cafe

Access info: The Squash building is fully accessible including level threshold entrance (shop/cafe) and ramp access to the garden. There is an accessible toilet. The Grapes Community Garden is a short walk from Squash, approx. 150 meters along Windsor Street. There is some uneven ground in the garden. 

SUNDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 11AM-2PM

IN THE FRONT ROOM AT SQUASH, DROP IN / FREE / BY DONATION

“There’s no better way of connecting to the earth than by planting a seed.”
-Jackie Swanson, Squash Horticultural Lead and local seed sovereignty advocate.

“Seed is not just the source of life. It is the very foundation of our being.“
-Vandana Shiva, environmental activist and global seed sovereignty advocate.

Our annual seed share is a really important event in the growing year and is the only one of its kind in Merseyside. At Squash, we’re passionate about seed-saving & sharing and have been building the Toxteth Seed Library since 2010 – a fundamental element of our 100 Year Vision for Windsor Street and L8 neighbourhood. Come and meet the Squash gardeners, who are the seed keepers and caretakers of this great legacy.

Every year, seasoned growers and budding beginners join us from across the city region with a shared passion and excitement for the great potential of the simple seed. Come along to pick up some free seeds to grow this spring and if you can, bring seeds you’ve saved to share. Our seed stock is abundant with many varieties of vegetables & fruit, herbs & salad with some flowers & wildflowers, nurtured organically with love on Windsor Street. 

Join Maeve and Tom from Youth-led Climate and Nature Advocacy collective Mersey Wilders to help create an alternative map of our area from the perspective of the plants and the seeds they’ve come from. Let’s draw the habitats we live in and imagine a wild and connected Merseyside.

SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY 1-3PM

AT THE GRAPES COMMUNITY FOOD GARDEN

Come by and help celebrate Imbolc, the Irish/Celtic/Gaelic marking of the promise of spring and the first festival of the 8-fold year of 2026. It marks the point between the Winter Solstice in December and the Spring Equinox in March. It’s a time to check in with each other and the land. At this gentle annual gathering, we invite you to join local gardeners, artists & cooks to;

• reflect together around the fire about winter challenges and hope for the coming spring
• help make Brigid crosses
• plant up onions, garlic and broad beans; some of the earliest veg we can sow in the year
• bless the gardens of the street and look ahead to the growing year
• help make fresh butter and taste flatbreads made over the fire*
• draw & write spring affirmations and share rituals at the altar
• taste Imbolc herb tea
• listen to early spring music

It’s also the full Snow Moon & World Ferment Day!

MAKE A BRIGID’S CROSS WORSHOP

FRIDAY 30TH JANUARY 2PM & 3PM AT SQUASH

Join in this gentle crafting session to make your own Brigid crosses with locally grown reeds, in time for Imbolc. Places are free / by suggested donation of £5/10. Booking essential. Book your place here

*Traditional foods associated with Imbolc are dairy inc. milk, butter & cheese and grains/bread and will feature at this year’s Imbolc celebration.

SATURDAY 17TH JANUARY 2pm till dusk…

Every January, we celebrate the apple & other fruit trees of Windsor Street and Princes Park by singing round the fire, making a racket with pots and pans to wake up the land, sharing messages & poems of hope for a good blossom & growing season, and welcoming the new annual apple guardians, which involves eating cake & sipping hot mulled apple punch.

This year, together with the Friends of Princes Park* and Hope Street Harmonies Choir, we invite you to join our Wassail Trail, from the Grapes Community Garden, journeying up Windsor Street ending up at the mini orchard in Princes Park, wassailing fruit trees along the way. We’ll sing and dance for the Windsor St community fruit trees, the crab apples of Windsor St School, the mighty Devonshire Rd quince tree and the apples & pear trees in the park! If you have a fruit tree you’d like us to wassail nearby, let us know!

ROUGH TIMINGS – WALKING & WASSAILING AS WE GO:

• 2PM MEET AT GRAPES COMMUNITY FOOD GARDEN FOR FIRE, SONG, PAN-BASHING & MORE
• 3PM WASSAILING AT SQUASH + APPLE CAKE NEW GUARDIAN WELCOME
• 3.30PM WASSAILING WINDSOR STREET
• 4-5PM PRINCES PARK ORCHARD WASSAIL

Everyone is welcome! By donation/solidarity fundraiser for Soup-it-Forward.

BRING AN OLD POT AND A STICK/WOODEN OR METAL UTENSIL TO BASH!

BRING YOUR BELLS AND WHISTLES. BRING APPLES TO SHARE.

DRESS FOR THE WEATHER AND TO GLADDEN YOUR HEART!

At Squash our apple trees are our ‘more than human’ partners in our 100-year vision – which began with the planting of apples trees in The Grapes Community Food Garden in 2010.  If nurtured, an apple tree can live for up to 100 years. Our love of wassailing comes from a shared passion for ritual, being close to nature & community and feeling embodied in the seasons.

*The Friends of Princes Park are a group of local people who want to Princes Park thrive for people and nature. They are a volunteer led and run charitable organisation which works in partnership with the Liverpool City Council, organised by an elected FoPP Executive Committee. They do tree work including planting and coppicing, bulbs, shrub and wildflower planting and have planted over 4000 trees over the last 17 years, increasing the biodiversity and wildlife of the park. They organise other activities such as tree walks, wildlife walks and picnics. Volunteer sessions run in the park every other Sunday between 10:30 and 14:30 all year round. 

Wassailing, from the Anglo-Saxon phrase ‘waes hael’, which means ‘good health’, is a traditional, rousing ritual of fire, food, song and togetherness in nature in the winter depths, to celebrate the apple trees and to warm them up for the coming spring and to encourage a bountiful harvest. ‘Historic UK’ say There are two distinct variations of wassailing. One involves groups of merrymakers going from one house to another, wassail bowl in hand, singing traditional songs and generally spreading fun and good wishes. The other form of wassailing is generally practiced in the countryside, particularly in fruit growing regions, where it is the trees that are blessed. Wassailing (historic-uk.com) This year we’ll attempt a bit of both. We’ll be collecting for our ‘Soup-it-Forward’ initiative along the way.

Apple wassailing was traditionally celebrated by orchard & cider-making communities in the West Country, and in the Welsh border counties.  It happened on ‘Old twelfy night’ before the Gregorian calendar – which falls on 17^th January.  Modern wassails happen all over the country throughout January.

FOOD IS A HUMAN RIGHT poster project is a SQUASH collaboration with artist Corbin LaMont that has come out of conversations on the state of current & historic enforced starvations in many places across the world.

The A3 posters are available to purchase for £15 in the Squash shop or can be ordered in for collection. Profits from sales will go to Khartoum Aid Kitchen in Sudan and our own Soup it Forward campaign. See all the posters below.

We put a call out for translations of the statement from our Squash community and have made posters in 13 languages so far:

ALBANIAN (POMEGRANATE)   ARABIC (OKRA)  

BEMBA (MANGO)  CHINESE (LOTUS ROOT)   

ENGLISH (SQUASH)  FRENCH (GRAPES)

IRISH / GAEILGE (CARROT)   ITALIAN (LEMON)  

POLISH (ONION)  PORTUGUESE (BANANA)   

SPANISH (TOMATO)   URDU (CAULIFLOWER)      VIETNAMESE (RICE PLANT)

In our local area there are upward of 25 different languages spoken between us all.

Big love & thanks to translators; Anna, Angelica, Anita, Asia, Chileshe, Edi, Fabio, Gabriella, Hellen, Isaac, Julie, Maria, Melissa, Niamh, Rachael, Saad, Saad’s mum, Waseilah, Zilan

Campaign by social artists Clare Owens & Corbin LaMont   Artwork by Corbin LaMont

Jude McLoughlin is a member & great friend of Squash who is also a very talented photographer. Jude has been taking photos of Squash community gatherings and folk rituals for almost a decade. We are so glad her work was recognised in November 2025 when she won the Liverpool City Region Photo Award in the Celebration category at the Open Eye Gallery.

In Jude’s own words; “This series of photographic images documents scenes from celebrational gatherings led by Squash Liverpool CIC throughout the Eightfold Calendar year. During these events, we are openly invited to come together onto the street, into the community garden and the local park to celebrate the seasonal turning and bridging points of the year. We are encouraged to explore themes of inclusivity, creativity, community, connection and joy as well as developing an awareness about the value of each season.  In this modern society, often driven by quantitative results, these events are an invaluable and rare opportunity to be able to enter a space of reflection and deep time. Where stories are told, steps are danced, songs are sung and food is shared around the fire. Where strangers become friends and kindness is the currency of exchange. Where we may stop for a moment to open our hearts and minds.”

The photos below include some in the exhibition and others chosen by Jude and Squash social artist Clare Owens that show some of the breadth & depth of Squash ritual practice and Jude’s tender capture.

Come and find some light on these shortest days. Let’s walk out together, nestle in around the fire, and make time for gentle chats, rituals and reflections. All welcome for calm times. Access information below.

SOLSTICE EVE, SATURDAY 20TH DECEMBER 12 NOON – 4PM

FIRE CHATS & REFLECTIONS. 12 NOON – 4PM

Stare into the fire, catch up with yourself, have a chat… a gentle hearth for Solstice Eve.

FESTIVE TUNES FROM HOPE STREET HARMONIES CHOIR. 1PM

Come hear festive tunes round the fire from Liverpool’s acapella songstresses! Solstice and Christmas tunes plus fun favourites!

SOLSTICE GROUNDING SESSIONS. 1.30-3.30PM TIMED SESSIONS

An invitation to gently prepare for solstice with song, movement, art, craft & fire cider in the gentle front room, with artists Angelica, Clare & Becky. We ask that you remove your shoes at the door for optimum comfort, so maybe bring warm socks!

SUNDAY 21ST DECEMBER 8AM – 4PM

SOLSTICE SUNRISE WALK. 8AM – 10AM

This Winter Solstice sunrise, come welcome in the returning light at the big oak in Princes Park, with communal songs led by Rachel from Holistic Harmonies. We’ll then journey together on a ritual walk up Windsor Street with the Squash crew & artist Andrea to the spring at St. James / cathedral gardens.  See below for more info.

QUEER KIN COLLECTIVE 10 – 12 NOON

A beautiful wellbeing offering from Liverpool’s queer kin for all the community.

SEW THE SOLSTICE. 10.30AM – 1PM

Stop by for some seasonal embroidery in the calm front room with artist Tabitha

STREET RITUALS. 11-2PM

Join in solstice street drawing and ritual garlic & onion plantings with Jackie, Becky & Clare

FIRE CHATS & REFLECTIONS. 11AM – 4PM

Stare into the fire, catch up with yourself, have a chat… a gentle hearth for the shortest day.

The Squash cafe & shop will be open on the Winter Solstice Weekender from 10am – 4pm on the Saturday & Sunday for tasty festive food and great produce & gifts.

ACCESS INFO

Solstice Sunrise Walk. Sunday 21st December – Meet at the big oak by Woodhenge in Princes Park from 8am. Sunrise is 8.25am, so it will be gently light at 8am in civil twilight time. 

The nearest entrance to the gathering in Princes Park is the gate on the corner of Devonshire Road West & Belvidere Road (approx postcode L8 3TZ). There is parking available on both these roads. From the gate there are 2 ways to arrive at the oak tree near Woodhenge, both are on uneven surfaces. One is via an uneven, stony & asphalt path to the right, followed by a short (20 metre) walk on a grass path. The other is over a grassed field, approx 100 metres. Any issues on the day call 07791155998. There is no toilet on site. 

From approx 8.30am we’ll walk up Windsor Street to the spring in St.James /Cathedral gardens. This space is reached by a long downhill path and there are some uneven surfaces.

We will then walk to Squash for approx 10am. Squash, 112-114 Windsor Street, L8 8EQ

The Squash building is fully accessible including level threshold entrance (shop/cafe) and ramp access to the garden. Accessible toilet.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANGELICA VANASSE. GRAPHICS BY JON BARRACLOUGH

SATURDAY 1ST NOVEMBER

AT SQUASH 2-4PM. DUSK WALK TO THE OAK 4-5PM

An invitation to:

• Gather in around the fire
• Remember our loved ones
• Gently prepare for winter
• Walk together towards the dark half of the year

As we enter into the darkest weeks of the year, we invite you to gather in together around the fire to celebrate Samhain; the end and beginning of the Celtic New Year.

Add the names of lost loved ones to the altar, be they ancestors, family members, friends or those we’ve never met. Honour the people of Palestine, living and dead. Taste warming mulled apple & fire cider. Have a chat through your hopes, worries, griefs & joys.

Bring something to burn.

“Samhain is upon us, marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, a time of cold and darkness when the veil between the living and the spirit world is believed to be at its thinnest. The word “Samhain” is derived from old Irish and means “summer’s end.” It is a time to bid farewell to the warmth and light of summer and prepare for the introspective and cold months ahead.” from Landworkers Alliance

We will be collecting for All Our Relations; community-led aid project in Gaza.

PHOTOS BY JUDE MCLOUGHLIN. ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANGELICA VANASSE.

SATURDAY 1ST FEBRUARY

11AM-1PM AT SQUASH, 1PM WALK TO THE SPRING

DROP IN / FREE / BY DONATION*

Please note that this is a gentle drop-in with various shared community crafting activities as oppose to full workshops. Space is limited. Come and learn and share your knowledge!

Come by and help celebrate Imbolc, the Irish/Celtic/Gaelic marking of the coming of spring and the first festival of the 8-fold year of 2025. Traditional foods associated with Imbolc are dairy* inc. milk, butter & cheese and grains/bread and will feature at this year’s Imbolc celebration. Help make fresh butter and taste our Squash-made sourdough!

For our gentle annual celebration, we also invite you to join local gardeners, artists & cooks to;

• reflect together around the fire about winter challenges and hope for the coming spring
• help make Brigid crosses with locally grown reeds
• plant up onions, garlic and broad beans; some of the earliest veg we can sow in the year
• bless the gardens of the street and look ahead to the growing year
• draw & write spring affirmations and share rituals at the altar
• taste fire cider, made at the Winter Solstice
• listen to early spring music

At 1pm we’ll walk together down to bless the spring in the cathedral/St.James gardens; which is known to some as ‘Bridey’s well’ after Imbolc goddess Brigid.

Imbolc, in the Celtic seasonal calendar marks the beginning of the lambing season and signals the start of spring and the stirrings of new life.
It is time for us to let go of the past and look to the future, cleansing out the old, making both outer and inner space for new beginnings. It is a good time for wish-making or making a dedication. – The Goddess & The Green Man.

The wheel has turned once more, returning us to a time of hope and new beginnings. Be thankful for the ever-increasing warmth and light as we leave behind the cold, dark, stillness of winter. – Almanac, Anne Marie Lagram.

In between the middle of the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox lies the Celtic festival of Imbolc. Dating back to pre-Christian times, Imbolc celebrations revolved around the Goddess Brigid. Ancient Celtic mythology explains that she was born with a flame in her head and immediately drank the milk* of a mystical cow upon birth, which is where her common symbols of a flame and dairy originated from. She also represents fertility, and many women would travel to her sacred wells (the most popular one in Kildare, Ireland) to drink their water in hopes of conceiving shortly after. During Imbolc celebrations, those celebrating would light bonfires and make dairy-rich meals in honor of Brigid. 

Now, Imbolc coincides with Saint Brigid’s feast day. Historians have shown that when Christianity was spreading throughout Ireland, the church was having a difficult time convincing pagans to let go of their gods and goddesses. Thus, Brigid was “reborn” into Saint Brigid, and her representations (i.e., fertility, the flame, and dairy farmers) were kept the same. – Marisa, Herbstalk

Read more about Goddess Brigid here.

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