A TREE nursery whose work includes helping vulnerable people through gardening therapy is branching out into the community after being shortlisted for a £1,000 boost.
Swansea-based Coeden Fach will be amongst other local groups hoping to get their green fingers on the Big Green Leaf Commuity Award at an environmental family fun day at the city’s Morfa Shopping Park.
The Big Green Leaf event, on Saturday August 2, will enlist the help of a cavalcade of characters including Bugella Burrows and Walter Droplet, who will encourage families to engage in fun and interactive sustainability activities from beneath a giant inflatable leaf canopy.
Calls are being made for other local community groups to take part and showcase their work, and shoppers will be able to vote with special tokens for the cause that they feel is most deserving of the prize of up to £1,000 towards their environmental project or initiative.
Coeden Fach Nursery Co-ordinator, Kate Davies was happy to put the Community Interest Company forward.
She said: “We promote awareness of the importance of sustainable land management and hold a vision of a future that is not reliant on fossil fuels, so the Big Green Leaf event is the perfect setting for us to spread our message.”
“We run training courses on a whole host of things such as raising, planting and growing trees, forest garden design, woodland management, and growing of perennial crops, working closely with the local community, organisations and schools.
“We also support people with mental illnesses by teaching them new skills through gardening therapy.”
She added: “The Big Green Leaf event ties in well with our ethos and we are very much looking forward to being a part of it.”
Also known as Swansea Community Tree Nursery, the social enterprise is supported by a team of dedicated volunteers who give up their time to learn and teach others about tree growing and horticulture.
Bug hotels, eco-clubs, pond dipping and willow weaving are some of the activities that Kate has helped organise, but it doesn’t stop there.
“At the moment, we are looking at setting up beehives in our orchard and offering beekeeper and hive maintenance training, so if we were lucky enough to win the grant, we would ask for it to be put towards new equipment for that,” she said.
The Big Green Leaf event takes place at Morfa Shopping Park on Brunel Way on Saturday August 2, from 11 am to 4 pm, where there will be a wide range of family-friendly activities and giveaways.
Bugella Burrows – keeper of insects and lover of bugs – will introduce children to a real Giant African snail called Slimon and a giant millipede named Oozmelda.
Water lover and avid gardener, Walter Droplet will run games based around water gathering and conservation.
Children will be able to take part in the water butt challenge and enjoy being turned into clouds, tasked with the mission of “raining down into the H2O handling machine” until they gather enough to water the garden and feed the insects.
Other characters include professional composter, Wormarie Compostulaire who will teach youngsters about food waste and recycling, and Litter Bug who patrols the area looking for rubbish.
Jo Francis, Head of Retail Property Management at The Crown Estate, which owns Morfa Shopping Park, said: “We are really looking forward to the Big Green Leaf event coming to the Morfa Shopping Park where there will be fun, interactive and educational activities for the family – all from beneath a giant inflatable leaf canopy.
She added: “Shoppers will be able to get involved on social media by using #BigGreenLeaf on Twitter and have their photos taken with their favourite creepy crawlies for free to post on Facebook.
“Morfa welcomes other local community groups to come forward to showcase the green work they do in order to be in with a chance of receiving the Big Green Leaf Community Award.”
There will also be exclusive retailer offers and discounts for shoppers to enjoy plus a chance to win shopping vouchers and prizes.
The Big Green Leaf Community Award will only be eligible to well established registered charities and not-for-profit community organisations or agencies. Ideally these should be based within a 5 mile radius of the Morfa Shopping Park and whom who have put their green project forward to the Morfa Shopping Park Big Green Leaf campaign. Full terms and conditions will be supplied on application from Amy Hodges at [email protected] or call 01132 616 250.
For more information about the event go to www.morfashoppingpark.com or like the page on Facebook.
