Fundraising milestone brings horticultural project to life for local charity

An exciting new project to create a horticultural teaching centre for adults with complex mental health needs and learning disabilities has been given the green light after fundraising efforts reached the halfway mark.

Northumberland-based charity, Blyth Star Enterprises, revealed its plans for the new eco centre on the site of its Stakeford Nurseries day service as part of the organisation’s ‘cultivation of barren land’ project.

The project, which aims to use horticultural therapy to bring areas of barren or ‘waste’ land back into use for the benefit of the charity and its service users, was originally established during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way for Blyth Star to diversify its day services to create more opportunities for people to take part in outdoor activities. Following the success of the project’s first phase, which saw the creation of a quiet garden at Blyth Star’s Woodwork Department, the charity started looking for further opportunities to build on its achievement.

This latest phase of the project will see staff and service users at Stakeford Nurseries transform a piece of land where an old glasshouse once stood to make way for the eco-centre, which will provide much-needed indoor classroom and workshop space to support Blyth Star’s in-house horticultural training programme. The land around the centre will also receive a makeover with the creation of several new raised planting areas, a sensory and herb garden, privet hedging and accessible walkways.

Graham Carr, Horticultural Services Manager at Blyth Star Enterprises said:

“We’re really excited to get started with the next phase of the barren land project.

“After the glasshouse was demolished, the land that was left behind presented the perfect opportunity for development. The idea for the eco-centre came along soon after as consistently poor weather made it increasingly difficult for us to deliver the theoretical element of our horticultural training to service users.

“Having some dedicated indoor teaching space in the form of the eco-centre is going to make a huge difference to how we deliver training going forward, as well as provide lots of new opportunities to add to our service users’ existing portfolios and skillsets as we work through the project to clear the land and bring it back to life.”

Having attracted funding from a number of charitable trusts and foundations including The Ridley Family Charity, The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Hadrian Trust, The Rothley Trust and Frazer Trust, a £40,000 injection from The Jill and Norman Franklin Trust helped tip the fundraising balance over the halfway mark to make the project a reality.

Julie Dixon, Chief Executive Officer at Blyth Star Enterprises, added:

“We are indebted to The Jill and Norman Franklin Trust and all of the charitable organisations who have supported us so far with the cultivation of barren land project.

“At Blyth Star, we are committed to delivering quality living support and day services that reflect as closely as possible real workplace settings, offering opportunities for training and experiences which provide our service users with the confidence and skills they need to live fulfilled lives within their local communities.

“The creation of the eco-centre is going to take our in-house training provision to the next level for our service users to allow them to access a holistic educational experience with opportunities for hands-on and theory-based learning. It’s all very exciting.”

For more information about Blyth Star Enterprises and Stakeford Nurseries, please visit: www.blythstar.org.uk.