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 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.
“We’re really excited to get started with the next phase of the barren land project,” said Graham Carr, Horticultural Services Manager at Blyth Star Enterprises.
“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 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.
