St Anne's Court Community Garden project for the elderly
Project Aim
The aim of the project is to foster a sense of community, through community gardening activities and growing food, amongst elderly people who live in a sheltered accommodation block called St Anne's Court, in Clitheroe, Lancashrie. The premises is owned and run by Ribble Valley homes. It is hoped that this community gardening arrangement can be replicated amongst many other sheltered accommodation properties across the area.
Further details
Transition Town Clitheroe has supported the project from the beginning offering gardening advice, wheelbarrows and volunteer time. TTC has worked closely with Age Concern Lancs to ensure the project's success. The garden design was done in close consultation between TTC and the St Anne's Court residents. The project has recently set up it's own bank account and appointed a chair, vice-chair, treasurer and secretary. Meetings are held once a month normally on a thursday at 10am. One representative from TTC and one from Age Concern attend the meeting with the residents. The aims of the meetings are to support them in any funding applications, gardening advice or to arrange help for certain manual labour tasks. TTC has expressed the need to grow food, and the residents have taken inspiration from a local permaculture community garden, known as Offshoots - based in Burnley, Lancs. However, the residents are in charge of driving the project forward, not TTC.
Inspiration
Outcomes so far
Unexpected outcomes
Obstacles, and how we overcame them
One of the biggest obstacles was waiting for grant money to come through. In one particular case where we were dealing with Lancashire County Council, we decided not to accept any money, simply because whilst we were waiting for money to come through, the energy and enthusiasm for the project was being lost by the residents. The project would not be so far developed if we had waited for money to come through.
Links and Partnerships
Age Concern Lancs have shown great support for our community growing projects. They see this as a great way of improving the lives of the elderly, and they have supported our activities through providing us with volunteers as and when required and help in tackling some of the issues that arose around funding. They dealt with all the grant applications for the initial project funding. They also attend all the meetings with us, and take notes about the project and document it well.
Ribble Valley Homes have offer some funding support towards the cost of the garden and have published a nice 2 page article about the project in their Autumn 2010 tenants' newsletter.
Sources of Funding
Small sparks funding - £500: This was paid into Age Concern's bank account and then transferred to community garden bank account.
Ribble Valley Homes grant - £250: This was paid directly into community garden bank account.
Sources of materials
The residents sourced most of the materials themselves. Sourcing of materials came from a mixed bunch. A lot of timber was donated to the project by a local builder to help build the raised beds, residents scoured the local papers looking for good deals on greenhouses and sheds. seeds and plants were bought and donated by the local residents. Bricks and cement for the herb wheel were source by a local retired builder who then gave his free time to build the herb wheel.
Contacts
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