Awards for All grants community growth

Sovereign South+West Press Release
Date: 29 February 2012

Award for All grants community growth

Residents of sheltered housing schemes in West Berkshire who want to grow their own food and develop their gardening skills have been given a helping hand, thanks to a lottery grant.

Sovereign Housing Association and the Growing Together Project have been awarded £9,958 from the Lottery grants scheme, Awards for All (A4A).

The funding will be used in five sheltered housing schemes to develop residents’ practical skills in maintaining their communal gardens and growing their own fruit and vegetables.

“We believe this investment will lead to a stronger community as the residents’ interaction increases, as well as having a beneficial effect on their health and wellbeing,” said Lee Dillon, Sovereign’s Resident Involvement and Neighbourhood Investment Co-ordinator.

“We asked all schemes if they wanted to take part and then chose five, all sheltered accommodation, based on the interest residents showed and the suitability of the schemes.”

The five schemes selected to take part in the project are: Windmill Court, Mortimer; Gilbert Court, Thatcham; Speenhamland Court, Newbury; Leslie Southern Court, Newbury; and Springhurst House, Greenham.

The grant will cover a wide range of expenditure to help the communities’ green-fingered ambitions come to fruition, such as plants, seeds, compost and construction materials for raised beds.

There will also be 20 one-day practical courses to teach residents how to make raised beds, and how to grow and care for their plants.

Lee Dillon adds: “Our next step is for residents to meet up with the Community Furniture Project and our estates team to work out where they would like their raised beds, what they should look like, and what kind of vegetables and plants they would like to grow.”

The grants scheme recognises local community-based projects around the United Kingdom that strive to improve local communities and the lives of people most in need. The scheme was set up in 1994, and has raised more than £25 billion and over 317,000 grants have been awarded. In England the grants range from £500 to £10,000. Sovereign received the grant on the 19 December 2011.


Notes to Editors

* For more information on the Awards for All, visit: http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/index.html

* Sovereign Housing Association is a charitable body. It comprises Sovereign South+West, Sovereign Twynham, Sovereign Kingfisher and Sovereign Vale, which were merged into a single legal entity in October 2011. Sovereign Housing Association includes the non-charitable Sovereign Living Limited. Sovereign is one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the south and south-west of England. It owns or manages more than 33,000 properties, offering a variety of tenures.

* If you would like more information, please contact Roy Probert, Public Relations Manager for Sovereign, on 01635 277406 or 07827 356479, or email roy.probert@sovereign.org.uk