Grow Your Future learners move on to pastures new as new faces start their garden adventure

Our learners have enjoyed a productive three months at the community garden, and are now moving into work experience in a variety of roles – supporting others, trying their hand at flower arranging with a professional florist, and working at Chantry Walled Garden.

As well as taking part in all aspects of horticulture and gardening, beekeeping and nature conservation – including scything our wild meadow with a local expert, they got involved in preparing for the market too, including making pickles and jams, apple-pressing, harvesting honey and making crafts.

The group is busy looking at progression routes into further training or employment, while our third group of 10 learners enrolled in November, and is now settling in.

These free courses are funded by the European Social Fund.

We still have spaces on this course, which resumes in January. Please get in touch if you or someone you know or support would like to take part.

Grow to Learn gives young and old a taste of the great outdoors

Leading Lives Community Benefit fund has enabled us to provide taster sessions for people with additional needs, both at our gardens and at our ActivSheds project.

Our weekly sessions have enabled young people to enjoy a range of gardening and nature conservation activities, alongside cooking, jam-making and other activities.

While these sessions are fun to take part in, they also enable people to develop practical skills and encourage important attributes such as good communication, ability to work as part of a team and willingness to take on responsibility.

Meanwhile, over at the ActivSheds, Ralph has helped men with living with a range of conditions, including dementia, Alzheimer’s, stroke and post-traumatic stress disorder, to get involved in making, doing, repairing, recycling, upcyling and everything to do with wood.

Those who take part enjoy socialising with others and sharing their skills and knowledge.

• Thanks to South West Area Committee for funding our pop-up garage, which enables more people to take part in a safe, socially-distanced way.

Women’s Shed is now in Action!

Our merry band of ‘she shedders’ now meet every other Thursday afternoon, making all sorts of items from windmill sails (model, of course) to teddy trugs for grandchildren.

We also held a craft afternoon, flower arranging session, jam-making sessions and apple pressing as part of our Women’s Skills Exchange.

• Please get in touch if you are interested in getting involved.

Helping hands from local business

Our Wild Zone benefited from Do Good’s corporate networking team in October, when a group of seven people from various local business came to the People’s Community Garden.

We were delighted to welcome Councillor Nadia Cenci – who has been a great supporter of the gardens over the years – as part of the team, setting her to work on raking up grass as habitat piles and sowing wildflower seed.

We hope to welcome back Do Good in 2021.

School puts finishing touches to their new garden with a bit of help from us!

Lesley visited Stoke High – Ormiston Academy to help children with additional needs put the finishing touches to their garden at the front of the school.

We took over a selection of plants which children enthusiastically planted up.

Community librarian Jane Riches, who has led the project for the school, said: “All of the children in this group enjoy getting outside, they feel more relaxed working in a small group and love the garden. 

“They dug up 60 potatoes yesterday, yes they actually counted them!”

Update from Belle Vue Park, Sudbury – Bev

Our volunteers continue to improve the beds at Belle Vue Park. We have been clearing the woodland area of the park. We have cut back large shrubs, cleared pathways, we have moved non-woodland plants and have replaced them with English Bluebell bulbs and woodland plants such as Pulmonaria and Cyclamen.   Perrywoods in Sudbury very kindly donated £50 to enable us to purchase more woodland plants.

We are putting leaf mould on the beds to protect the dahlia tubers.  The tender plants have been moved to Chantry Walled Garden and winter bedding plants and perennials have gone in.  The Community Wardens have given us a quantity of woodchip that has been placed next to our compost bins ready to use next year.

We have provided work experience placements for students at the Ryes College – which provides education and care to young people with complex needs. The students have been very courteous and hard-working. They have integrated into the Sudbury team very well with support from Liz Brightwell and other staff from the school.

Our volunteers say they have become much closer during lockdown – forming friendships, meeting outside of the project to enjoy other activities together, and supporting each other – running errands for each other and calling each other to make sure they are okay.

Getting Out & About with ActivLives!

ActivLives members have had the chance to get out of their houses, and go on mini health walks with ActivLives staff – meaning they can get weekly exercise, while staying safe and supervised!

These have happened in one-to-one sessions, as well as in small socially-distanced groups.

Here’s what some members have had to say:

After successfully re-opening some of our Better Balance sessions as well as our ActivSteps session back in September following the end of the first lockdown, another lockdown meant that these had to stop temporarily after not long being started!  During lockdown 2 we were able to offer live exercise sessions via Zoom where some members were able to participate in their exercise class with their instructor from the comfort of their own homes.  This worked really well, with very few technical difficulties and allowed people to maintain their fitness whilst keeping connected with others.