At Verve, we proudly support our local charities because we appreciate the difference they make to our communities. One of these charities is The Tindall Allotment Group, based in Eccles, Greater Manchester, and the group consists of over 100 Allotments proudly supported by their local community. The Allotments are tended and nurtured by people and groups, and together, they share a sense of pride and a gentle fusion of a warm sense of humour in their love of gardening.
At Tindall Street Allotments, amid the rows of onions, peas and potato plants, a sign reads: Trespassers will be composted!
Unfortunately, freshly grown organic food can become ‘compost’ too. The Allotment owners often have a surplus of fruit and vegetables they would love to donate. Unfortunately, it goes to compost because they have no other choice; sadly, they have nowhere to send it.
‘Networking’ to donate fresh fruit and vegetables to our community
Many of the Allotment owners have contacted Charities or organisations they felt would need it; the charities left them feeling disappointed. There was a sense of frustration that the Charities ‘didn’t want to come over and pick the food up’ or told, ‘We prefer to have tinned or dried food because they last longer!’ Their frustration was evident; they said they preferred to leave it in the street so people could help themselves! Instead, it went into the compost heap. Many of the Allotment owners shared this frustration, mainly because everything appears to be done by email; subsequently, no one seems to speak to each other anymore.
Tindall Street Allotments receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
In 2011 Tindall Street Allotments won The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service; this is the equivalent of the MBE for community projects. They had been awarded £1000 from the Brewers Fayre Local Heroes campaign, and they used this to help build the ‘Community Room’, a hub where everyone comes together now as a community.
‘The Right to Eat’ …Fighting local poverty together!
I met Yvonne Simms at the ‘Ode to Christmas’ event in November 2019. We spoke together at length, sharing common thoughts and ideas in conversation. It became evident that no one knew much about anyone unless we went on a website or filled out a form. Advertising and marketing are expensive, and with no budget for costly campaigns, how could anyone know what the other one did?
Yvonne Simms runs the ‘Right to Eat’ project, including the ‘Salford Food Parcel and the ‘Holiday Hunger project. Yvonne’s vision is to create a ‘Right to Eat Community Hub’ within the immediate area of Barff Road, Tootal Drive and Kennedy Road in Salford. The hub will be a base where the Salford Food Parcel and the Holiday Hunger projects can offer immediate support to local people and families in poverty.
‘Salford Food Parcel project is partnering with the British Red Cross Charity. They provide essential foods and supplies to Asylum seeking families and vulnerable local families in the community.
Salford’s Holiday Hunger project is run by ‘This is It’, which is a community group based on Barff Road in Salford. The project provides healthy lunchbox meals for 34 local children three days a week during the school holiday. Sadly, the number of children needing the ‘Holiday Hunger’ project continues to grow.
‘Networking’ to create a fresh supply of fruit and vegetables.
Yvonne manages an allotment off Tootal Drive in Salford, where she and the team grow organic fruit and vegetables. There are regular supplies of freshly laid eggs from the chickens who live on the allotment, and wherever possible, they use fresh fruit and vegetables they have grown for both projects. Yvonne’s purpose is to ensure that the children and families in their community get essential healthy and organically produced food. No food ever goes to waste.
Steve Jones, Director of Verve, and Claire Marie Street, Verve Fostering Ambassador, are Veterans of the Armed Forces. Collectively we are proud to support Veteran charities and organisations in our community. I design and create high-content and well-illustrated blogs/adverts to advertise the Charities and their services in our community. The blog’s purpose is to create internal and external links to relevant websites. Creating a network of linked organisations will provide a more straightforward pathway for people to access support services when needed most!
Jocylin Croston, A woman with a vision.
Jocelyn is a Verve Fostering Ambassador and recently volunteered with the Mustard Tree Food Club. She’s very good at achieving her objectives; obtaining donations for charities is one of them!
Jos told me, ‘I set up the first Mustard Tree Food Club, Little Hulton as a volunteer in 2015. The third and final Food Club was in Eccles, Greater Manchester, and again, I offered my support to set that branch up in 2018. Mustard Tree Food Club is different from traditional Food Banks. The Food Club provides a food basket of 10 items to Mustard Tree members for £2.00 per week. My vision was to try and include fresh fruit and vegetables as part of the food basket. To achieve this, I planned to visit business and allotment organisations that were local to us.’
‘I visited the Tindall Street Allotments in Eccles and met with Don Booth. Don Booth was the Chairman of the Tindall Street Allotment Group, he listened to me whilst I shared my vision with him.’
‘Don introduced me to a group of Allotment owners, and I shared my vision with them. Each of them kindly offered to donate any surplus food they had grown to the Food club. I knew the difference that fresh fruit and vegetables would make to our members of the Food Club. Every week throughout the summer, Don Booth delivered donations of fresh fruit and vegetables to the Eccles shop. It made a difference to the dry food that was normally only available!’
Jocelyn left the Mustard Tree group, and sadly the project did not continue.
Recently, Jocylin and I visited the Tindall Allotments, and we met with Chairman Dennis and his wife, Christine, the Allotment Secretary. The purpose of the visit was to create a link for Yvonne and ‘the Right to Eat’ project.
There are 34 reasons why we need to talk together.
We had 34 good ‘Holiday Hunger’ reasons for where any surplus food could go. We shared Yvonne’s vision, her fear of not giving healthy food to the children, and how she regularly runs out of food for her projects. As a result, Tindall Street Allotments have kindly offered to support Yvonne Simms and her projects with regular donations of fruit and vegetables.
If you would like more information on any of the Not for Profit Charities we represent, please get in touch with us on the following form, and we will come back to you.