Andy Munns
Young people from local school Brunel College, formerly the WASP centre, have helped local youth charity Rise:61 improve its community garden by making it more ‘sensory’ and better for the environment.
These capable and energetic young people built a wood store and compost bin from scratch with waste materials like pallets.
They also planted some fruit trees, built a new veg bed with a strawberry patch and even built a xylophone made out of logs!
As well as maintaining the garden, which gets a lot of use from local people, they have planted new shrubs and herbaceous perennials that will improve the area’s biodiversity.
These improvements in 2022/23 were made possible by generous grants from Wilts Council of £2500 through the Salisbury Area Board and Wessex Water of £1500 through their Environment Fund.
Mark Summerill, one of the youth workers working on the project said: “The young people we work with from Brunel College have struggled in mainstream education but are talented and creative. They particularly thrive when engaged in building and fixing things outdoors. It’s been great to put their skills to positive use making the community garden an even better space for local people, particularly those who are SEND.”
Rise:61 is a Christian youth charity that comes alongside young people in the estate of Bemerton Heath, Salisbury, providing positive opportunities where they can tell a different story with their lives.
Rise:61 have big plans to make the garden even more accessible and inclusive for local people in 2023/24.
They plan to have a new gazebo installed, which will be larger and thus able to host bigger groups.
They also hope to have an accessible path and patio built so those with mobility issues can access and enjoy the garden.
They have already raised £10,000 towards this £30,000 project through generous grants of £5,000 each from the George Bairstow Charitable Trust and Salisbury Area Board.
