What? Part of Word Up North’s BBC Contains Strong Language 2025 Engagement Programme, Aireheads brought together three professional poets with three Bradford-based, nature-focused organisations to explore the powerful connection between words, well-being and the natural world.
When? April – August 2025.
Where? In community green spaces/services in the Bradford District.
Partners: Bradford District Care NHS Community Trust Green Therapy Project, Friends of Park Wood, and Shine, West Bowling.
Artists: Poets Andy Craven-Griffiths, Wilko Wilkes and Kate Fox; illustrator Ian Hallaw.
Our Aims
This project aimed to explore how being outdoors and expressing ourselves through words can support positive mental health and spark creativity. We wanted to discover what a ‘Poet’ can offer in these spaces, how they can compliment participants’ well-being journeys, while also enhancing their own well-being and artistic practice.
What We Did
The Aireheads poets-in-residence spent the summer of 2025 in their allocated community green spaces, taking part in walks, gardening activities, workshops and delivering impromptu creative writing activities.
The residencies gave both poets and participants space to learn with, and from, each other. Each poet spent time ‘in the wild’, walking alongside members, users, volunteers and staff of Bradford community groups and services that specialise in making the most of local green spaces, exploring how words can capture the experience of spending time in nature and create meaningful connections with such pockets of urban wilderness.
The poets were then tasked with creating a reflective piece of writing inspired by their experiences and encounters. They also curated writing prompts and participants’ work which had been generated during the course of the project.
Impact and feedback
The project culminated in the creation of the Aireheads booklet which was launched at the BBC Contains Strong Language Festival as part of the ‘CSL Shorts: Words in the Wild’ event.
The event featured the participating poets and was attended by members of the three partner community organisations. The launch provided an opportunity to celebrate the work collectively and to reflect on the journeys taken by participants and poets throughout the project.
The Aireheads booklet brings together reflective pieces of writing by both poets and participants, acting as a catalyst for further exploration of nature, creativity, and the language of well-being.
Alongside the writing, the booklet includes gentle prompts and suggestions for readers inviting continued engagement and encouraging people to think about how they might begin generating poetry in their own local green spaces. The care, attention, and craft evident in the booklet clearly demonstrate the depth and significance of the experience for everyone involved.
The booklet has been shared with all project partners, the Bradford 2025 Creative Health Network, and their wider networks, extending the project’s reach and impact. The BD2025 Creative Health Team intends to continue sharing learning from the project through the Creative Health Network and its legacy.
Collected Reflections
Below are reflections from the poets and participants in the project:
‘In June 2025 I spent a week with the Bradford NHS mental health team. I took part in nature walks, litter picking, a bio blitz, a canal boat ride, forest bathing, kayaking and joined allotment groups. My mission was to explore the connection between nature writing and positive mental health. I learnt that the physical and therapeutic benefits of blue and green spaces are beyond anything I’d realised and also that the type of attention that we give to natural spaces is often the same type of attention we use when writing poetry’ – poet, Andy Craven-Griffiths‘It is clear that the wood is an important pillar of the lives of Friends of Park Wood members. The wood gives so much and the members pour so much into the wood. They are sensitive and vulnerable as we all are and they use their time and skills to make the world a better place. And for me, when you really boil it down, that’s what poetry is all about. Stepping out of the comfort zone and into the unknown, shedding ego in search of connection, encouraging others through leading by example, hoping for a better, kinder, easier world.’ – poet, Wilko Wilkes
‘Poetry is a perfect form for green spaces; it holds the beauty and colour that takes us out of the everyday like the flowers that so many of the group loved but can also so some of the work of being a safe space where people can reflect on continuing processes of growth in a way that helps re-enforce change, just like the garden itself.’ – poet, Kate Fox
‘Listening to the words and seeing the words of who we are and what we do in a poem, getting it down on paper and appreciating it has been really good. We feel seen.” – Project Worker, Shine West Bowling.
‘My husband has never finished a poem before this project and now he’s going back and finishing old poems he’d abandoned.’ – Friends of Park Wood member
“Having Andy take over an allotment group session was a welcome reminder that creativity is found within anything and anyone. Using only our natural surroundings, memories and a simple prompt, the group created a collaborative piece that enriched our shared perspective and love for being outdoors. Many of our members had felt unable to connect with the session beforehand due to previous deprivation and stigma. Andy’s warm approach and inclusive activities meant everyone wanted to join in, and more importantly, felt a real sense of equality and shared ownership of the poem that was produced. The session strengthened the group’s core aim of promoting access to green therapy for adults with complex mental health needs, deepening engagement with the outdoor environment while supporting wellbeing, confidence, and collective identity.” – Occupational Therapist, Bradford Care NHS Trust
This project was delivered as part of the BBC Contains Strong Language Bradford 2025 Engagement Programme. It was produced by Word Up North in partnership with the BBC and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. BBC Contains Strong Language Bradford 2025 was funded by Arts Council England and Bradford 2025.