Tayshan Hayden-Smith, known as the 'Grenfell guerrilla gardener', has stepped down from his role with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) due to what he described as a "toxic relationship". Despite his good intentions to broaden access to gardening and horticulture to underprivileged communities, he found his efforts often conflicted with RHS operations. His journey into community gardening began after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, leading to the establishment of the Grow to Know initiative, striving to create healing spaces amidst social inequalities, especially in areas affected by air pollution.
"My experience of coming into this space (RHS) was because of Grenfell where people didn't feel worthy of safe, healing beautiful space."
"I took up the role 'well-intentioned and optimistic', hoping to 'shift access' and 'redistribute resource and wealth' within horticulture to more communities."
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