New Charity: East Clayton Farm, home of the Lorica Trust
‘‘The funding from Henry Sale had had a remarkable impact on our horticultural provision at East Clayton Farm, it has provided us with a safe space for very vulnerable young people to enjoy gardening, wildlife, fruit, and vegetables.
In the summer we regularly use produce grown on the space in our small kitchen, with our young people planning the menu, cooking for each other, and most importantly sitting down to eat with each other.
For many of these young people being given the responsibility and choice of what to cook and to sit down and eat a meal with other young people and adults is a very unusual activity – the funding has brought a true sense of joy not just outside but throughout our provision which we hadn’t anticipated when we first started the growing space project.
We are now looking at expanding on this further with a view to setting up a Plot to Plate project due to the positive impact “growing” has had on the young people visiting East Clayton Farm
Thank you doesn’t seem enough – but if ever you would like to visit, meet our young people, speak to our team or even enjoy a meal cooked by our children you would be very welcome’’
From the five beds original beds there are now:
A small herb garden area, complete with seating and a petal kettle drum
A very grand bug hotel area
A rockery and seating
A dedicated area for compost bins
Improved and an increased number of raised beds, rabbit fencing in place around the entire site, hedging plants and orchard trees established
A potting shed, tool store, willow weave and even a mud kitchen
The new improved space at East Clayton Farm is used daily throughout the academic year. A horticultural assistant works three days of the week along with volunteers who help keep the area managed and tidy with an endless list of exiting tasks for our young people to engage with.
With over 40 young people attending over the course of the week it’s important that there are spaces that young people can feel confident in, away from noise or people and the Sensory space provides this in bucketfuls!