Volunteers from a flagship Derby housing training hub run by the country’s biggest social enterprise have been helping homeless project participants put down roots through gardening.
A team from PfP’s Thrive training centre donned overalls and picked up gardening tools for the day to help out at Derventio Housing Trust’s highly valued Growing Lives project in Cotmanhay, Ilkeston.
The project, which has been described as an “oasis” of tranquillity based in an old factory, helps homeless residents and others referred through drug and alcohol services to rebuild their lives through gardening, bike maintenance, cooking, crafts and art – all supported by Derventio Housing Trust staff.
The team from PfP Thrive helped out by weeding, cleaning, hedge trimming and building raised beds.
The team said they were keen to lend a hand to help Derventio Housing Trust continue its work providing homes and support for people who would otherwise be homeless. The trust is a social landlord which helps around 1200 people a year in five UK counties by providing them with accommodation.
In Derbyshire, hundreds of people are living in Derventio Housing Trust homes, along with neighbouring counties in Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.
Thrive is a training centre teaching vital skills in construction and housing run by Places for People, the UK’s largest social enterprise which provides affordable housing, rents properties, runs leisure centres and handles large scale urban regeneration.
Andrew Corser, Partnership Manager at PfP Thrive, said: “We are connected to Derventio Housing Trust because we help train some of their housing and support officers.
“We want to work with local community housing associations and form strong partnerships with them as well as providing training. We want to work with them in other ways to support valuable community initiatives such as Growing Lives.
“Thank you so much to the Places for People’s Estates team who worked so hard for the day. They trimmed hedges, weeded, built hatches for the compost bins and jet washed the paths. This was about real community partnership in action and it was great to see colleagues from Places for People and Derventio Housing Trust come together to help create a peaceful retreat for people using this space – who themselves work tirelessly to make the wonderful space it is today.”
At a recent open day held at Growing Lives, visitors were wowed by the transformation of a former curtain tape factory into a tranquil garden and thriving day centre.
Sarah Hernandez, managing director of Derventio Housing Trust, said: “Thank you so much to the PfP Thrive team for helping out at Growing Lives. It’s great that partnership extends to more than just the demands of work but that organisations like this are prepared to give up their time to help out too.
“Growing Lives is a brilliant project that participants and staff work so hard to maintain. It’s proved to be invaluable in helping people on to a more positive pathway after going through hard times in their lives. So many former residents tell us how it helped them on to independent living and being economically active again. Thank you so much to PfP Thrive for sharing our vision and getting stuck in!”
