Hope Community Allotment project

Story & photo:Yiwen Zheng

Hope Community Allotment project is a practical project helping people with mental problems, while also appealing to people who like gardening and volunteering. The project was started by Andrea Hardy ten years ago.

The chairman of this project, Phil, said he originally began to work for the project because he suffered an aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) ten years ago. SAH occurs when blood leaks into the space between two of the membranes that surround the brain. It can cause a stroke. After fighting this disease for five years, he joined the project to do more exercise to improve his health. The project provides tools, seeds, compost and training.

Sheena Clark, the organiser, said, ‘‘the volunteers and service users come on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. They plant a range of different vegetables, fruit, flowers and herbs, including potatoes, onions, cabbage, kale, leeks, spinach, broccoli, garlic, lettuce, apples, cherries, strawberries, blackcurrants, thyme, sage and rosemary.

All the plants are organically grown and the volunteers and service users take vegetables home after harvesting. Recently some volunteers built a poly-tunnel which helps some vegetables grow faster and better in warm temperatures. "We sow seeds for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and chillis in the poly-tunnels.’’

John, a volunteer, said he retired three years ago. He has an allotment plot as well and gardening at Hope Allotment has become part of his routine to help other users. Michelle, another volunteer, joined the project two years ago. Every Saturday, she walks for 15 minutes to the allotment with her son. She said they get fresh air, meet people and make new friends while enjoying gardening vegetables. A new volunteer, Dominic, told me he had become a volunteer two weeks after he heard about this project on Sheffield Forum. Currently he spends three days a week working here.

Sheena Clark said they raised the funds in various ways to carry on this project. This year they received £940 from ESH, a construction company, supporting them for the first time. In 2013, they successfully applied for a donation from Tesco. Some volunteers’ children sold flowers in their schools to help raise money for the project and they had a stall at the fair at Firth Park Academy. In addition, the committee got sponsors and donations through online applications. They hope more and more people will get to know about this project, come to the allotment to participate and or volunteer to help.

If you would like to join or help, please contact Sheena Clark on 07792 605 138.