In January 2016, Hale Community and Youth Centre made the decision to create a fruit and vegetable garden in the then lawned area at the front of the centre. A garden for the community, planted and maintained by volunteers. To facilitate this new garden project “Get Growing@the Bungalow” £10k of funding was secured from the People's Health Trust to design, create and maintain the area; encouraging active participation and control.
Today, the Centre is surrounded by a productive community garden which is looked after by a variety of volunteers of all ages you will often see groups taking refreshments in the garden and spending time together socialising. This has been a hugely important part of the work of the centre which is working to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
Farnham in Bloom achieved its best ever performance at this year’s South and South East in Bloomawards in what has been a very challenging year.
The results, announced on Friday 29 September at a ceremony held at RHS Wisley. In total, Farnham bagged nine gold awards with five best in category.
The awards which also celebrate the involvement of local community groups through the It’s Your Neighbourhood category also saw Hale Community and Youth Centre’s Community Garden achieve a Level 4 Thriving award.
Visit Our Blog to see the latest community garden news or catch-up on the progress the initial project has made by looking at the various Blog Posts in our Photo Albums.