A new volunteer group called Green Shoots aims to make its local area a brighter place.
Green Shoots was established from the very successful Tadpole Garden Village in Bloom organisation, which has been involved in a range of community projects since it began over five years ago.
In addition to brightening up their local area with planters, hanging baskets and seasonal planting displays, TGV in Bloom have conducted a number of charitable and community based projects, such as helping to install a wellbeing garden at Great Western Hospital and building a thankful village memorial in TGV itself.
The Green Shoots team, set up and led by Stu Olden who was a founding member of TGV in Bloom, now extends the horticultural knowledge and experience gained by TGV in Bloom to help local residents to tackle gardens and community areas that have become overgrown, restoring them to a more manageable state for onward maintenance by the residents themselves.
Stu Olden said: "Green Shoots was set up to provide horticultural support to vulnerable members within our local community.
"There are many reasons that people are reaching out for support, from physical and mental health conditions preventing them from doing the work sometimes required, to those that have fallen on harder times and have been unable to maintain their garden and just need a helping hand to get it back to a more manageable state."
Having conducted a few initial projects, mainly using group members' own gardening tools and equipment, Green Shoots has now teamed up with the local parish council in St Andrews who have agreed to refer requests for support.
This has seen more projects being taken on by the group, with fundraising now taking place to purchase dedicated equipment for these much needed projects.
One key item the Green Shoots team are looking to acquire soon is a heavy duty shredder and chipper, with the aim of turning the garden waste collected on the projects undertaken into recycled material that can be sold to raise further funds.
"It's amazing how much garden waste is produced from these projects," Stu said. "We want to reduce the clearance time to enable us to focus the majority of our efforts on improving the area we are working on.
"A heavy duty shredder and chipper would do this, compacting the bulk garden waste and recycle it into a product that could be used for mulch - that's a win-win in all areas in my book!"
Green Shoots have their own Facebook group @GreenShoots, where people can get an update on the work they are doing.
People can also email [email protected] for more information or if they would like to support the team in any way.
In addition to brightening up their local area with planters, hanging baskets and seasonal planting displays, TGV in Bloom have conducted a number of charitable and community based projects, such as helping to install a wellbeing garden at Great Western Hospital and building a thankful village memorial in TGV itself.
The Green Shoots team, set up and led by Stu Olden who was a founding member of TGV in Bloom, now extends the horticultural knowledge and experience gained by TGV in Bloom to help local residents to tackle gardens and community areas that have become overgrown, restoring them to a more manageable state for onward maintenance by the residents themselves.
Stu Olden said: "Green Shoots was set up to provide horticultural support to vulnerable members within our local community.
"There are many reasons that people are reaching out for support, from physical and mental health conditions preventing them from doing the work sometimes required, to those that have fallen on harder times and have been unable to maintain their garden and just need a helping hand to get it back to a more manageable state."
Having conducted a few initial projects, mainly using group members' own gardening tools and equipment, Green Shoots has now teamed up with the local parish council in St Andrews who have agreed to refer requests for support.
This has seen more projects being taken on by the group, with fundraising now taking place to purchase dedicated equipment for these much needed projects.
One key item the Green Shoots team are looking to acquire soon is a heavy duty shredder and chipper, with the aim of turning the garden waste collected on the projects undertaken into recycled material that can be sold to raise further funds.
"It's amazing how much garden waste is produced from these projects," Stu said. "We want to reduce the clearance time to enable us to focus the majority of our efforts on improving the area we are working on.
"A heavy duty shredder and chipper would do this, compacting the bulk garden waste and recycle it into a product that could be used for mulch - that's a win-win in all areas in my book!"
Green Shoots have their own Facebook group @GreenShoots, where people can get an update on the work they are doing.
People can also email [email protected] for more information or if they would like to support the team in any way.
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