Our Work in 2014 Our Work in 2014
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OurOur work work in 2014 in 2014 Introduction This Annual Review covers the year 2014 and reflects a positive upturn for Garden Organic. Like many charities, Garden Organic struggled during the recession, spending more than it earned to protect key services for organic growing and gardening. That situation has now been resolved, and after a very modest deficit in 2013, the charity returned to a healthy surplus in 2014, confirmed by the figures contained in this review. We had a positive year across the board in 2014, getting out and about to shows, exhibitions and events the length and breadth of the country to meet members, supporters and new organic growers, and to consult with these groups as widely as possible. From Scotland to Kent, from Salford to Norfolk, we connected and engaged with a variety of audiences. Our return to financial health allows us to plan and invest for the future. We intend to be more active across the whole of the United Kingdom, bringing organic best practice and knowledge to growers and gardeners as conveniently as possible. Our work in educating and informing new audiences continues to expand – from primary schools to prisons – and with the key organic health and wellbeing agendas at the heart of our work. Commitment to plants, people and communities – raising the banner for the organic way – continues to lie at the centre of all that we do. This Annual Review provides in-depth analysis and detail on all our activities, and I hope you will find it a rewarding read. James Campbell Chief Executive Garden Organic brings together thousands of people who share a common belief – that organic growing is essential for a healthy and sustainable world. Through campaigning, advice, community work and research, our aim is to get everyone growing the organic way. Our vision is of a healthy and sustainable world that has embraced organic growing. Our purpose is to get more people growing organically. Our mission is to promote and advance the use of organic growing with its benefits for plants, people and communities. Patron: HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB Breckland Master Gardeners plant seedlings with President: Professor Tim Lang, PhD, FFPH visitors at the Festival on the Farm 2014 in Norfolk. Vice-Presidents: Thelma Barlow, Raymond Blanc and Susan Hampshire Chair of Trustees: Roger Key This Annual Review is kindly sponsored by NFU Mutual 2 Garden Organic – Annual Review www.gardenorganic.org.uk Contents Sustainable Communities 4 Creating healthy and sustainable communities Feature 6 Encouraging home composting Education 8 Discovering the organic way Feature 10 Food Growing Schools: London Heritage Seed Library 11 New opportunities for heritage varieties 6 8 Feature 12 Save Our Seeds Campaign Appeals 13 How your donations are helping us grow Feature 14 Our next step for sharing knowledge Finance 16 10 Our financial performance in 2014 Membership 17 Members’ update Chief Executive 18 Looking to the future To learn more about Garden Organic’s work and help us to grow even more … 9 Website: www.gardenorganic.org.uk Email: [email protected] 11 Facebook: GardenOrganicUK Twitter: @gardenorganicuk Headquarters: Ryton Organic Gardens, Coventry, CV8 3LG Just prefer to talk? Call us on 024 7630 3517. Design and print by Right Click Creative Ltd. 12 Every order from The Organic Gardening Catalogue helps to support Garden Organic’s vital work. Order online at www.organiccatalogue.com or call 01932 253666. www.gardenorganic.org.uk Garden Organic – Annual Review 3 Sustainable Communities Creating healthy and sustainable communities Our food growing and composting programmes continued to go from strength to strength during 2014. These projects are working with many different groups in the community, but they all have at their core the promotion and advancement of the organic message. Attendees at our National Volunteer Masters Conference 2014. Garden Organic Master commissioned interventions in the from reoffending. The success of the Gardener programme local areas. Together with commissions programme at HMP Rye Hill has been in some new areas, we ended the independently evaluated by Coventry As the Local Food (Big Lottery) funding year working with Master Gardener University. It reports that participants for our Master Gardener Programme networks in seven areas of England. in the garden project have experienced came to an end in March 2014, we Our programmes in the London a wide range of benefits, including took the opportunity to celebrate the Boroughs of Camden and Islington, noticeable improvements in their outstanding achievements of our Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Breckland, physical and emotional health, social volunteers. Since the project started in Medway, Leicestershire and at HMP wellbeing, skills and employability. 2010, 609 Master Gardeners have been Rye Hill, near Rugby, are all funded by To read the report visit trained and they have given regular Public Health. www.gardenorganic.org.uk/rye-hill. support to 5,949 people to grow their own food. These dedicated volunteers The Rye Hill Garden Project Garden Organic Master have contributed more than 26,700 hours of their time and had more than At HMP Rye Hill, offenders recovering Composter Programme 77,000 food growing conversations in from substance misuse have been Our Master Composters are volunteers the wider community. To offer an in- taking part in our first Master Gardener who spend time promoting home depth insight into the health, social and Programme run in a prison. The Rye composting in their local community, environmental impacts of the Master Hill Garden Project is delivered in encouraging householders to take Gardener Programme, we published a conjunction with Substance Misuse up composting and ensuring that booklet called ‘Growing for Health and Services and G4S, which operates those already composting do so Happiness’ at the end of 2014. For more the prison, and it is funded by Public effectively. Garden Organic delivers see www.mastergardeners.org.uk. Health England (Northamptonshire). this national volunteer scheme in The main aims are to assist offenders’ partnership with a wide range of local Moving on from the Local Food personal recoveries and to improve authorities and waste companies. funding, we managed a successful their health and wellbeing, whilst During 2014, we supported 538 transition of the Master Gardener allowing them to develop new skills active Master Composters, working in networks into becoming Public Health and progress towards lives free collaboration with ten local authority 4 Garden Organic – Annual Review www.gardenorganic.org.uk Sustainable Communities areas in England. Together, the Master Growing exotic and worker supported residents to plan, Composter volunteers contributed unusual crops establish and maintain productive growing areas within the estate. She a total of 5,066 volunteer hours Our Sowing New Seeds project has helped them to take ownership of the promoting home composting in their enabled communities across the project and get involved from the start local communities during 2014 (for Midlands to grow exotic crops and, in the decision-making process. more see p6). thanks to funding from the Patsy Wood Trust, we were able to develop This project consisted of a series Grow and Eat and extend aspects of this project of weekly gardening workshops, in 2014. Activities centred around Grow and Eat is a one-year project covering a variety of topics related practical training events, providing funded by Warwickshire County to food growing. The gardening opportunities for people to learn Council and Orbit Housing Association. group reclaimed two large communal about growing and using multicultural It has focused on the users, staff growing beds for edible crops, and crops. One of these involved a highly and volunteers of food banks in the installed a large potting shed to successful series of courses for Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick turn into a beautifully decorated hub young people to learn about growing districts, and has aimed to improve for the project. By the end of the multicultural crops for niche markets. their knowledge and skills around summer, the residents had harvested Attendees came from a wide range food growing, healthy eating, cooking and enjoyed eating lots of delicious, of backgrounds, including students and a healthy lifestyle (provided by fresh lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, from horticultural colleges and clients food growing). The approach has beetroots, herbs, peas, runner beans from Coventry refugee centre, and included developing and piloting and strawberries. This gardening group from many different cultures (the different growing workshop sessions has also helped to break down barriers UK, Japan, Iran, India and Eritrea). within food banks, providing basic between different social and ethnic This funding from the Patsy Wood food growing training for staff and groups on the estate. It has brought Trust also allowed us to maintain our volunteers, and developing a resource them together in a sociable, fun and exotic plant and seed collections, and kit for them to use with clients. interactive way, and fostered a greater our Exotic Garden at Ryton for their sense of belonging and community ongoing use as educational resources. cohesion. A food bank user said: “It’s Grow Clyde Road lovely to see the plants in Growing Health Grow Clyde Road was set up to Growing Health is a national project yoghurt pots and cuttings in a support residents of Peabody’s Clyde run jointly by Garden Organic and jam jar, because we can do that Road estate in Haringey, London, Sustain, the alliance for better food at home - it looks so easy.” through the creation of an active and farming. Growing Health’s vision is gardening group. Peabody is one of the that community food growing should oldest and largest housing providers be a natural part of health service in London, owning and managing more To date, 32 workshop sessions have provision.