Mayor Praises Community Garden
The Mayor of Chesterfield, Stuart Brittain, has praised emh care & support, a specialist organisation that provides day services for people with learning disabilities, for turning an unused piece of land in Mastin Moor, Derbyshire, into a community garden.
The Mayor was invited to officially open the garden after the emh care & support team successfully bid for a £24,000 grant from Derbyshire County Council to support two new projects on the land.
Joanna Grainger, Executive Director of emh care & support, said: “Our aim is to enable people to have a better life, based on independence and wellbeing. The projects we have been able to support with this grant will go a long way towards helping us achieve that ambition for our service users in the local community.
“We had a range of supportive partners – Travis Perkins, Drive Out, J Tomlinson, and emh sharpes – who by donating funds or tools or providing training to the volunteers and service users allowed the projects to take off. We could not have done it without them, and are very thankful for their contributions.”
The community garden will form the basis of Food for Thought, providing an accessible area where service users with various disabilities will be able to grow their own vegetables. The project will also promote healthy eating and wellbeing. With bustling wildlife surrounding the site, with badgers and various birds of prey regularly spotted, the second project will focus on Access to Nature. Wheelchair-accessible walkways and various hides will be constructed around a large pond, and a range of activities will be introduced over the next few months, including birdbox making and nature photography.
The Mayoress, Anne Brittain, also joined in the celebrations, displaying her green fingers when she joined one of the service users, Brendan O’Donnell, to bed in some new plants.
“We were very glad to be invited,” said the Mayor. “I am so impressed with the vision for the area and the contribution it will be making to a better world for everybody. I am excited to see what happens next.”
