The Growing People Project, Cudworth, Barnsley
Lead Organisation: Community Composting Network (CCN)
Contact Cath Kibbler by email at cath@communitycompost.org or telephone on 0114 258 0483 or 07739459515.
Lead Facilitator: Charlie Willsmore
Contact by email at charlie.willsmore@gmail.com or telephone on 0207 450 0151 or 07890030238.
The project aims to
- Grow environmental issues by developing new/existing environmental initiatives
- Grow individuals by providing quality local learning opportunities
- Grow environmental groups through providing support/guidance
- Grow sustainability by developing sustainable service delivery
This project is all about involving local people in developing skills in horticulture and using horticultural and environmental activities as a means of increasing awareness. Food issues are seen as an integral part of this process and a large part of what we do is producing food raised by organic methods within local allotment spaces and encouraging the local community to learn how to produce fresh fruit and vegetables in the spaces they have at home. Surpluses from our gardens are made available to visitors who usually make a donation towards our funds for the produce. We are also developing links with other healthy eating initiatives in the area.
We work especially well with people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and health issues such as long-term depression and substance abuse. We use horticulture in a therapeutic way to develop confidence, self-esteem and increased social networks. We encourage clients who work with us as ‘gardeners’ to take home fresh produce to improve their diets and clients can stay in placements with us for as long as they need to while we have funding to enable this to happen.
We also have fairly large numbers (50 per week) of students with learning disabilities who use our garden spaces to learn skills which are accredited on 18 week NCFE courses, our staff also deliver these courses off-site to students in local schools.
This project is building links with many other projects in the surrounding villages of Barnsley and we are now developing a range of short courses, some accredited, and activities including a new training programme for volunteers; these could be replicated in our neighbouring areas. There are many opportunities we hope to grasp in the future as the project develops.
We also intend to maximise the range of food crops we raise and use our garden spaces to their full cropping potential and to have aesthetic appeal as an inspiration for local community members. We are constantly improving accessibility for those with disabilities.
Project contact:
Jean Richardson
Jeanrichardson77@hotmail.com
01226 781 060