Key facts
Area: North West
Grant recipient: Pennine Lancashire Community Farm
Project: Pennine Lancashire Community Farm
Programme: Awards for All
Date of award: february 2011
Amount awarded: £9,191
Burnley based Pennine Lancashire Community Farm offers residents and community groups opportunities to grow and learn about fruit, vegetables and plants.
Set back from rows of terrace housing the community farm’s allotments are used by local residents who maybe don’t have their own garden, as a place to come together and have space to grow their own produce.
James Horsford, Project Manager explains “It’s not just an allotment it’s a place where people can come to be with nature and learn different skills in a safe environment. We have regular groups who come down every week, from people with learning disabilities, substance abuse users, people with mental health problems, young offenders, to local school children and unemployed young people.”
Volunteers who attend have the opportunity to learn new skills, and can complete units towards and a full NVQ in horticulture. They offer support and encourage people to engage with each other and learn about local food production. The Community Gardens act as a community meeting place for local families from different ethnic backgrounds to come and work together learning how to grow fruit and vegetables and find out about nature, farm life and the natural environment. The older residents share their stories with the younger residents, they swap recipes and produce with each other from their different cultures and have fun in a natural environment.
James says “In the summer months it’s lovely to be working outside but in the winter it can be so cold and wet that some of the groups can’t come. To have an inside space that is dry and warm is really going to benefit the project. It will allow the groups to still come down and take part, even in the bad weather.
When the two port a cabins have been refurbished and insulated we will be able to work all year round” says James.
James had applied to Awards for All in the past: “It’s the easiest application to complete, the money we've received is really going to make a big difference to us and the groups who attend the project.”