Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Chris Collins: The Green Valley project started just over three years ago. It’s benefited
from lottery funding coming into it, it has enabled us to create a former derelict side
four and a half acres completely over grow. It’s turned it into a very vibrant community
garden for the benefit of local people providing training and employment opportunities, enable
us to grow local food for the local people that they can afford to buy.
Michelle Lenton-Johnson: This project benefits groups in the community of all ages, we work
with young toddlers, two to three olds, we work with teenagers on an alternative curriculum
project who have been excluded from mainstream education and therefore come down and actually
gain some valuable skills and qualifications on site. We work with families of all ages
who come down just to gain social interaction on the site, learn about the environment and
have fun really in the open air.
Chris Collins: We also have a lot of volunteers come in and they help the site to thrive really,
the volunteering part, they come with ideas and skills contribute greatly to the project
and really make it work. We just started a local food box scheme a variety of locally
grown vegetables throughout the season. They are going into the local community local people
on low incomes we deliver to their door and it provides a lot of benefit and helps promote
the project in the community. Michael Barbour: As it is in the valley it
is not much work in the valley, so people are moving away and everything. The poverty
in the valley is really low. There is nothing for the youngsters; there is nothing for them
to go anywhere, it’s a bit depressing being on jobseekers because there is not much money.
And I was depressed that I was not bringing enough money and then everything then I finally
come down to the Green Valley volunteered, had a bit of training and then they took me
on as a full time member staff and it just went from there to being brilliant.
Michelle Lenton-Johnson: Before the lottery funded the Green Valley project this was a
dreadful place to be. It was four acres of derelict land scrubland Japanese Knotweed,
fly tipping, rats you name it nobody wanted to come here. Since the green valley project
has transformed the area, it’s now an oasis that people just want to come to, people of
all ages, they come here for social aspects and they come here to learn and to gain qualifications,
we’re growing not just food on this site, but we’re growing people and I think that’s
fantastic for this community.