The Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL) in Reading is just five minutes from PACT’s Alana House service and a fantastic neighbour to PACT. The MERL is a vibrant and inclusive community focal point with a fascinating exhibition, great café, lovely shop and a wonderful garden complete with bee-jou bug hotels. Many families and community groups use and enjoy The MERL, including Alana House who have had a rich informal but supportive partnership with The MERL for many years.
The MERL has supported Alana House in numerous ways. They generously offered a part of their garden for a celebration viewing of the photographs taken during the PhotoVoice project. The large prints looked amazing dotted about the gardens for people to discover and appreciate. The MERL followed this up with a month of proudly displaying the photographs for all visitors to see.
The MERL also helped Alana House through the sales of the fabulous Alana House recipe book, a collection of yummy, easy and favourite dishes shared by the Alana House community. Creating and publishing this book was a fantastic success for the whole of Alana House and seeing the books on The MERL shelves and then in someone’s bag whisked away to a new home and kitchen was thrilling. If you’ve not got a copy you can grab a copy before they’ve gone here: https://www.pactcharity.org/product/alana-house-cook-book/
The kind team at The MERL have provided multiple opportunities for women accessing Alana House services to explore and enjoy gardening. Numerous groups have been given raised beds and tools from the shed of dreams. Cathy at The MERL has generously supported the groups with creative ideas and support. They’ve weeded, planted seeds seedlings and cuttings, weeded, thinned out and grown on and potted up, and … weeded. Many in the groups were first-time gardeners and these sessions de-mystified gardening, making it practical and accessible. Time together enjoying the rewards of their work be it flowers or herbs and simply sitting in the peaceful gardens has been priceless.
Phillippa at The MERL said: “We are absolutely honoured to be PACT’s Supporter of the Month as a result of our work with Alana House. Our partnership with Alana House is hugely important to all of us at The MERL. Experiences have been so wide-ranging, from collaborating on creative activities, health and wellbeing to gardening programmes. A particularly memorable moment was our photographic project during the pandemic when only meeting outdoors was possible. I remember what a joy it was for us all to reflect and create together at that time. Thank you PACT for all our work together and I look forward to our future collaborations.”
Thank you to The MERL for all your support. For any PACT supporters close to Reading who haven’t been to The MERL please do visit, you’re in for a treat!
The MERL, what an absolute star you all are.
