The community gardening group based at Armitage CE Primary School are on a mission to engage their pupils and the local community to participate in growing, gardening and outdoor activities.
They already have an allotment, where they work with local charities and the local GP practice to encourage isolated and elderly individuals to get involved. These activities are hugely beneficial to the mental health of those who come to the allotment, affecting their lives in a positive and therapeutic way. What a fantastic example of communities working together for the benefit of residents!
The school itself is located under the main railway track running out of Piccadilly and alongside Hyde Road, one of the busiest roads in and out of Manchester city centre, known for worrying rates of air pollution. They told us that:
“There is a lack of colour and wildlife surrounding us. The area we are surrounded by is grey, dull and not attractive at all.”
and they say local residents have expressed the need for colour to be injected into the area. Armitage Primary had a bold vision of what they wanted to do in improving the look, wildlife, and biodiversity of their spaces, and came to us asking for a grant of £2,000 for seeds, flowers, fertiliser, manure & soil.
They have a whole host of brilliant ideas to beautify and add value to their school’s land, from purchasing rare breed hens as animal therapy for pupils & the community, and planting a native wild meadow, which they hope will inject colour into the area, attracting pollinators and bringing beneficial wildlife and birds into an area where they are nearly non-existent. The school are already working with a bio-diversity and land management specialist on how they can have the maximum impact on the local environment, which shows the commitment they have to improving the local biodiversity and environment for the health, both mental & physical, of the community.
They’ll be doing the initial planting in Spring & Summer, but the maintenance and the lasting benefits of this fantastic project are going to last a long time! We can’t wait to bring you updates as soon as we have them - keep an eye out on our social medias: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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For more information on our Stronger Communities Fund, please visit welovemcrcharity.org/stronger-communities-fund