Grow for it Project!

We have been awarded £51,000 by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme for our Grow For It! Project.

Work on the project started in April 2010. An education programme is being developed offering learning opportunities for local schools. The project will also offer support to schools to set up food growing on their grounds.

We also hope to get more local people involved and are looking for volunteers who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. Details of volunteer placements and a programme of community task days

It will also enable us to produce more local food, improvements on site have already started. See our news pages for latest developments

The following activities will be organised through the Grow For It! project:

School visits

• A programme of school visits.
• The project will also offer support to local schools who have visited Glebelands to set up food growing on their grounds, through the provision of young plants, advice on growing and providing contacts to relevant networks or groups.
• A range of educational information packs will be developed to compliment the school visits.
• Where possible, supply of fresh vegetables for school meals.

 Volunteer programme

• Volunteers will be recruited to support the project, particularly to help with school visits. Volunteers wishing to have a longer term involvement and gain valuable work experience will be especially encouraged.
• We will also organise regular volunteer work days for specific large tasks which will involve larger numbers of people and will allow members of the community to get directly involved.

Open days

• Open days for the local community will be organised throughout the year to give an opportunity for more people to get involved and find out about the project.

The following improvements will be made in order to grow more local food

• The installation of two new poly-tunnels will double our undercover cropping space enabling us to increase production of fresh vegetables during winter, extend the growing season for summer crops and improve our undercover soil fertility.   
• Erection of a dedicated plant raising tunnel will allow us more flexibility to bring on plants earlier in the season and increased space to raise plants for sale to both amateur and commercial vegetable growers.
• Installation of two 10,000 litre water tanks will reduce our use of tap water thereby minimising our impact on the environment, making our irrigation system more efficient and reducing costs.

 Local Food: has been developed by a consortium of 15 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme. Local Food will distribute grants to a variety of food related projects to make locally grown food more accessible. www.localfoodgrants.org.

The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT): is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to promote conservation and manage environmental programmes throughout the whole of the UK. It has established management systems for holding and distributing funds totaling more than £20 million annually to environmental projects across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme funds a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the local environment.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.