A walled garden attraction has been awarded £130,000 to help offer volunteering opportunities for members of the community.
Helmsley Walled Garden, in North Yorkshire, will use the National Lottery funds to set up and run Learning to Grow, a new three-year programme, which sits alongside its mentoring scheme, Over the Garden Gate.
The funding will allow the garden to develop its plant propagation activities with volunteers, through a structured project. Two part-time coordinator roles to oversee the propagation activities will be created, and a number of part-time traineeships developed.
This will enable the garden to support more volunteers to propagate plants, as well as providing more volunteer opportunities.
June Tainsh, executive director, said: “One of the areas I am most excited about, is being able to support volunteers looking for future employment in horticulture and keen to learn more about plant propagation.
“Now, thanks to the funding from the National Community Lottery Fund, we will be able to offer a 12-month part-time traineeship each year, enabling a transition into paid employment. This will make a huge impact on those volunteers who are able to work but have found barriers to entering the workplace for a range of reasons.”
The National Lottery Community Fund will distribute funds to Helmsley Walled Garden annually, over the course of three years. The programme is set to start in early this spring.
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