Our Social Impact in 2021
People, places and the planet are at the heart of our impact targets where we aim to create positive change and have a positive impact. The past year (2021) was successful in achieving our social impact goals and objectives and for many areas we recorded record breaking numbers for our charity.
Thank you to our funders, our sponsors, our partners, our donors, our volunteers, our team and everybody else who supported us this past year.
2,021 trees planted
We planted 2,021 trees in 2021 as part of our ‘Plant Trees Plant Hope’ campaign in a bid to build biodiversity, combat climate change and create green spaces in our local community.
180 volunteers
We have 180 volunteers registered on our volunteer management system who have given their time, effort, energy, knowledge and experience to help our charity in a number of projects.
1,966 volunteer hours
A record total of 1,966 volunteer hours were recorded helping individuals learn new skills, meet new people and give back.
250 hours of Green Therapy
15 local individuals who are inactive or long term unemployed, experiencing social isolation and/or poor wellbeing, improved confidence through our gardening projects. Twice a week the Green Therapy group met up to complete a number of gardening tasks to help maintain the gardens at Stratford-Upon-Avon hospital and help their horticultural education.
900 kilos of fruit and veg donated
From apple/fruit picking at local orchards and growing our own veg, we could donate 900 kilos of fruit and veg to local community care homes, hospitals and animal shelters to help those in need and reduce food waste.
15 individuals enhanced employability through courses
15 local unemployed individuals leaned new skills and enhanced their employability through our 3-month Building Digital Skills and Coaching for Wellbeing courses.
1,500 plants grown
In our polytunnel and at our nursery area we managed to grow over 1,500 plants which we planted at a number of our garden sites to bring colour and beauty to those areas.
26 linear metres of living walls installed
We designed and installed 26 linear metres of living walls as we began our Warwickshire Living Walls project. These living walls will not only create greener spaces in an urban environment, but they will help improve air purification with the species rich plants absorbing Nitrogen Dioxide to reduce the harmful effects of traffic in the atmosphere.
3 NHS hospital gardens started/maintained
We started the creation of a Kitchen Garden at Stratford-Upon-Avon hospital and a staff memorial garden at Leamington-Spa rehab hospital, as well as maintaining the Garden of Wellbeing in Stratford.
6 Barn Owl chicks nested in our Barn Owl box
We erected a Barn Owl box in a mature Oak tree to provide habitat for Barn Owls to build biodiversity at our Field of Life. Members of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) visited to inspect our nesting box during a routine survey of the area and gave us the exciting news. A further visit was made to check the health of the Barn Owl chicks and ring them.
2 wildlife ponds created
2 wildlife ponds were created at our Field of Life to support Great Crested Newts along with a range of other aquatic species including amphibians, invertebrates and plants.
120 grow your own veg boxes
We packaged and distributed 120 of our Grow Your Own Veg boxes to members of the local community to give them the opportunity to grow their own veg to improve wellbeing and promote a healthy diet.
2 people employed through Kickstart
Through the government’s Kickstart Scheme we could offer a 6-month placement to 2 members of the local community.
11 corporate partnerships
We worked with 11 corporate groups as part of their corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives.
56,000 people reached through social media
We helped spread the message of health & wellbeing, biodiversity and positive change through our social media channels by reaching over 56,000 people in 2021.