SC048411 2019-2020 Final Accounts Signed Redacted.Pdf
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GROW 73 ANNUA F O R 2 0 CHAIRPERSON'S STATEMENT Our parks and green spaces are more vital to us than ever before. We all benefit from the restorative effects of being outside in nature and here in Rutherglen we have our own green space, Overtoun Park. At Grow73 our vision is to establish a green hub in Overtoun Park where we can meet together with friends and neighbours and start to reverse the isolation many of us have felt during lockdown. We believe that taking part in shared outdoor growing activities can help to bring people and the community together, can help us to make new friends and to improve our health and wellbeing. Parks are like border zones somewhere between town and country and I think we have a special emotional attachment to our local park. We need the green space that the park offers and Overtoun Park certainly benefits from our activities. Our garden and our biodiversity area have already generated a remarkable increase in biodiversity in the park. We have planted bulbs and wild flowers in the woodland area and told some of Rutherglen’s history in our heritage trail, The Ruglen Ropewalk. Our volunteers meet there every week and many of our events and activities are based in the park. Our vision spirals out from the park with established plantings at Rutherglen Railway Station and on the Main Street, and further plantings planned for Stonelaw Road, Burnside and beyond to provide a pollinating pathway for our pollinating insects. For the future we plan to develop three of the bowling greens in the park into a thriving community garden. A focus for volunteering activities, learning new horticultural skills, and learning how to take action to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. And mostof all by bringing people together help to make Rutherglen a great communityand a great place to live. Chairperson GROW 73 Charity Contact Information Charity Number: SCO48411 Principal address: 149 Dukes Road Rutherglen Glasgow G73 5AE ne number Website: www.grow73.org Facebook: @Grow73 Twitter: @Grow_73 Instagram: Grow.73 Charity Trustees on Date of Approval of Trustee Annual Report 1. (Chair) 2. asurer) 3. (Secretary) 4. 5. 6. Other trustees during the financial year covered by this report and accounts 1. (resigned April 2020) 2. (resigned April 2020) OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES Grow 73’s aim is to support people of all ages and abilities who live or work in the Rutherglen & Cambuslang (CAMGLEN) area to grow their own produce, to learn how to lead more sustainable lives, and how to support biodiversity. Through shared gardening activities, environmental improvements and events we aim to bring together diverse groups across the age and ethnic spectrum to support and learn from each other as well as to improve the health and wellbeing of our community and make Rutherglen the place to be! Our charitable purposes are: To advance education in relation to gardening, local food growing, healthy eating, composting, and matters relating to the environment, biodiversity and living more sustainably. To advance physical and mental health and wellbeing by providing improved access to the outdoor environment, promoting an active lifestyle through participation in gardening and other outdoor leisure opportunities and promoting the benefits of growing and consuming healthy food in order to help maintain or improve health. To advance citizenship and community development (including the promotion of volunteering) through the provision of community garden spaces and by involving people who might otherwise be socially excluded in gardening, environmental improvement projects, community events and other appropriate activities which harness the skills and energy of the local community and promote community cohesion. To advance environmental protection and improvement through establishing, coordinating, supporting and/or managing projects which are directed towards preserving and making best use of the natural environment for the benefit of the general public and, in particular, those resident in the areas in which Grow 73 operates. STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT Constitution The charity is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (a SCIO). It was registered in its current legal form on the 25th May 2018. It has a two- tier structure consisting of the Members and the Board of Trustees. Trustee recruitment and appointment Trustees are recruited and appointed in accordance with the constitution. During the period covered by this report there were no changes to the Board of Trustees. ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE We have had a very busy and productive year... Community Asset Transfer of Bowling Greens in Overtoun Park The Community Asset Transfer was granted in March 2019 by South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) allowing Grow 73 to progress towards securing a lease for the 3 disused bowling greens to develop as a community garden. Grow 73 received tremendous support from David Henderson of the Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) during the asset transfer process for which we are very grateful. Work commenced on the planning application for the change of use of the land and this is still in progress. The lease of the land is subject to a successful planning application and Grow 73 securing the necessary funding to pay for a fence to separate Grow 73’s site from Overtoun Park Bowling Club’s site. As you can imagine these achievements have taken a huge amount of work - to research & collate information, attend many meetings and secure help along the way from individuals in our community. We have been very lucky to secure the expertise of individuals who have donated their expertise on a pro bono basis to support legal negotiations, the design and planning process, and contamination testing. Grow 73 is hugely thankful for this support. The development of a large community garden within the local area will allow us to increase the community benefit we are delivering and become an example of how community gardens really can help to revive and inspire a neighbourhood. Community Gardening We continue to develop our growing activities around the Rutherglen area and are continually working on building relationships and engaging with our community. Overtoun Park: our small community plot is thriving with a mix of wildflowers, native hedging, roses and 2 raised beds which accommodate a mix of herbs and vegetables which park users are welcome to pick and take home. We have planted over 150 plug plants of perennial wild flowers and seeds in the park’s biodiversity area and woodland which have helped attract new species of insects to the area. As part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign we litter pick each week and over the year have collected more than 72 bags of rubbish. We have delivered over 31 volunteer social gardening sessions with an average of 15 people attending each session with more volunteers coming along as the word spreads about our informal and friendly approach. Train station: As adopters of Rutherglen train station, which has an annual footfall of over 1 million per annum, we maintain the planters on the platform and the biodiversity area at the station entrance. Our mural about Rutherglen’s heritage at the station entrance is still attracting the attention of the commuters and was put forward for a national award by Scotrail. “I use Rutherglen Station on my daily commute to work and would like to take the opportunity to comment on what a fantastic positive effect the mural at the entrance to the station has had on passers by. On a personal level it brought to myself a ‘Ruglen lass’ a sense of pride and achievement to belong to such a historic and instrumental Royal Burgh. I have witnessed people of all generations and walks of life stopping to take photographs and taking the opportunity to chat about the items captured within the clear and colourful mural. It advertises Rutherglen’s great heritage and brings a modern, visual and more accessible way of bringing history to life for a wider audience.I would hope to see more such innovative works being undertaken in the future and congratulate the enthusiastic community ambassadors who have enabled this to happen.", School gardening: With the help of a fantastic group of parent helpers, we have delivered 32 weekly gardening club sessions to Burnside Primary School exploring food growing, how to tackle climate change and support biodiversity with children aged from 5 years to 12 years. Feedback from the school and the parent council, which funds the sessions, is that these activities give the children a real sense of achievement. The school was inspected during in the 2019/2020 year and received fantastic feedback about the positive impact Grow 73 is playing in supporting the school’s focus on nurturing children and outdoor learning which forms part of the Curriculum for Excellence. "Grow 73 have been an invaluable partnership for us at Burnside Primary School. Together we have built a popular grounds/gardening group which is accessed by up to 120 children across the school year. This group helps to maintain the plant life in our extensive grounds and also to look for ways to encourage wildlife into key areas. Working closely with classroom teachers has helped develop staff confidence and further embedded Eco in our school curriculum." , Former Depute Head Teacher, Burnside Primary School (now HT at Townhill Primary School, Hamilton) Mentoring: We were selected by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to mentor a group of 12 young people from the Additional Support Need (ASN) unit of Cathkin High School. This mentoring took place on a weekly basis over a 10 week period with the aim of designing a model garden for the school to include food growing, planting to create biodiversity and an area for therapeutic gardening. The garden model was created and presented to a jury panel, competing against models made by children from 12 other schools in the west of Scotland.