It doesn’t seem long since we were writing our first funding applications and Carley cycled from Land’s End to John O’ Groats to raise money for our work. We have lots to share since we last posted about our plans and preparations for Growing Forward.
We are delighted to announce that we have since received grants from GreenSpace, The National Lottery Community Fund (Awards for All) and The Thomas Farr Charity as well as the generous donations of our families, friends and supporters. Find out more about our funders and supporters here.
Behind the scenes we have been taking the necessary training and putting processes in place to ensure our Community Interest Company is fully functioning and providing a safe and responsible service. We are now open for referrals and will provide more details about that soon.
The most exciting news of all is that we have been able to continue our existing partnership with Windmill Community Gardens and develop a new one with Emmanuel House Support Centre.
Windmill Community Gardens are very kindly providing a space on their site for us to deliver social and therapeutic horticulture sessions. This is a dedicated area in The Gardens and we will share more about that soon. It is wonderful for us to continue our close connection with Windmill Community Gardens as they have always championed and supported our work. Previous users of Growing Forward have moved on to become volunteers at Windmill too and we hope this will continue with future participants.
Alongside Emmanuel House Support Centre we are delivering social and therapeutic horticulture sessions at their allotment site in St Ann’s. These sessions are for people with support needs who may have experienced issues relating to housing, including actual or potential experiences of homelessness. Find out more about our partners here.
There will be lots more exciting news to share soon. Watch this space!