Story: Diana Tottle
Over 25 people who came to the Annual SAGE Greenfingers Open Day on 18th September were delighted to hear that SAGE has secured a lottery grant so it can start offering sessions for free again from early in the New Year.
SAGE is one of the Burngreave projects that expanded significantly during the New Deal era and established regular sessions of horticultural therapy and art activity on Grimesthorpe allotments. The end of New Deal and advent of recession forced it to cut back drastically to one therapeutic session per week last January. But this grant, of just under £200,000, will enable the project to start running 2 more free sessions from January onwards, increase staff hours again and create two new part time posts. Director Diana Tottle hopes that this will provide a period of long-awaited stability, so the organisation can build for the long term.
As part of this revival, SAGE wants to recruit a volunteer community health champion to support our work with refugees and asylumseekers over the next six months.
The role is part of a city-wide initiative, offering training opportunities and links with the wider health promotion network. Please phone and ask for Janet if you are interested – 274 3651 or enquiries@sagesheffield.org.uk.