We’re thrilled to have received over £22,000 from the Severn Trent Community Fund, The Nineveh Charitable Trust, The GreenSpace Green Grant, The B&Q Foundation and The Country Land and Business Association. The money will be used for green activities including the allotment project, which is based at Nottingham’s historic Hungerhill Allotment Site in St Ann’s, and will enable homeless and vulnerable people to participate in gardening sessions and outdoor activities.
Following successful grant applications, the project began on 22nd April 2022 and will run for 35 weeks. Our allotment has been running between April and November for over 10 years, supporting a total of 88 individuals since 2016. The Covid-19 pandemic put the project on hold and volunteers and staff have been maintaining the allotment throughout the fallow years. We’ve also been running group volunteering sessions to prepare the plot for the new project.
This year, we hope that 55 beneficiaries will engage with the project and aims to improve mental and physical health, reduce alcohol and substance use, social isolation and offending behaviour.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the numerous supporters for enabling this project to go ahead for another year. In previous years, the sessions have had significant mental and physical health benefits for our beneficiaries, providing them with a sense of responsibility as they care for the land and plants through safe access to nature and the outdoors.”
Alastair Paylor, Centre Manager at Emmanuel House
“We’re full of admiration for Emmanuel House and the fantastic support it offers to vulnerable people in Nottingham. We’re particularly impressed with the allotment project they run to help improve people’s mental health and physical wellbeing. It’s exactly the type of scheme we want to support through our Community Fund. With this extra help, we’re looking forward to seeing this great initiative go from strength-to-strength.”
Sue Heyes, Community Fund Officer at Severn Trent
“I saw the allotment as therapy as it got me out of the house. I enjoy learning about new things and I am able to get away from bad situations.”
Peter*, an Emmanuel House beneficiary
As well as the allotment, we will be running Green Activity sessions including arts, crafts, walks, building a compost toilet and outdoor cooking.
The allotment sessions will be delivered in partnership with Growing Forward, a community interest company that supports people to improve their mental and physical wellbeing through social and therapeutic horticulture. These sessions will offer group allotment gardening and one-to-one counselling to help alleviate anxiety and trauma.
“Being able to work on the allotment improves the mental health of our service users through building a sense of purpose and achievement as they see the fruits of their labour. This in turn helps to build confidence and self-esteem and the first steps towards integration into the wider community. We are now a GreenSpace Trusted Provider and are able to take referrals from social prescribers. This means that we are able to support more people with their mental and physical health, whilst helping them reach their full potential by developing the skills and knowledge required for gardening and maintenance.”
Paylor, Centre Manager
GreenSpace, the Green Social Prescribing Programme for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
Green social prescribing is about connecting people with nature and their local environments. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System was selected as one of seven government ‘Green Social Prescribing Test and Learn’ sites and awarded £500,000 to fund the two-year pilot programme. The programme will run until March 2023. The programme is being delivered nationally by the Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Natural England, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England, Sport England, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government and the National Academy for Social Prescribing. Locally, NCVS is leading the programme on a day-to-day basis. More information is available on the NCVS website.
Volunteer at the allotment
Would you like to support the operation and delivery of a therapeutic gardening activity for homeless and vulnerable people? We need your help to support individuals at a personalised level to help gradually increase their confidence and ability to enjoy engaging with nature and, in turn, become happier and healthier.
