Totnes Community Tennis Club, Community Garden Project
1
The Pitch
Problem statement
Lifeworks College Learning Disabled students have involved in the planning and designing a community garden in collaboration with the Tennis Club. Work began in the summer 2023 and the students were encouraged to contribute as much or as little as they wanted and to work at their own pace alongside volunteers from the tennis club. As Totnes becomes busier and busier so the green space of Borough Park becomes ever more important for the town. This community garden project will transform an under utilised space within the park with wheelchair-accessible raised beds, sensory plants, seating and a place of calm and colour for local people to enjoy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5GqIHbNVxU
Solution
In order to maintain the space going forward, the students now follow a weekly programme of work with the support from tennis club volunteers, Lifeworks staff and a professional gardener from Parklife SW. In order to ensure that this wonderful project is sustainable we are looking for funding to cover the cost for the professional gardening/teaching support from Parklife SW, which is essential to ensure the project is sustainable and properly planned. Therefore we are looking for around £800 to cover the costs for a professional gardener/community worker to support the students 20 sessions @ £40 per session during the summer and autumn terms 2024.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
The club already runs inclusive tennis program by providing free tennis sessions to pupils and students with learning disabilities from the local community. For at least thirty weeks during the academic year we run weekly sessions of tennis activities for students from Bidwell Brook Special School, Dartington and Lifeworks college. This new initiative aims to cultivate a sense of belonging and empowerment for Lifeworks students at Dartington with diverse abilities. At the same time beginning a regeneration of this valuable green space at the heart of Totnes by creating a sensory garden with wheelchair access for all the community to enjoy.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Cost for professional garden supports provided by Park Life SW. 20 weeks @£40 per session | £800 |
Beneficiaries
25 people
Who will benefit
Expected impact
The garden provides a space for all the local community to enjoy, at the same time is part of a regeneration of this valuable green space at the heart of Totnes. It has been designed with wheelchair accessibility therefore can used by the local disability care homes, parents of children watching tennis junior coaching, and a space for working people from the local businesses from the adjacent industrial estate to enjoy their lunch. It will create a meaningful learning opportunity for the students so that they can reach their full potential whilst being engaged with and valued by their local community. The Lifeworks College students love being part of this important project, it gives them a real sense of purpose, achievement, and community spirit. The students will measure the impact the garden has by recording feedback from the people that use it and from the tennis club and Town Council and use it to support their college work.
Track record
Some background information. The tennis club aims to improve mental and physical health in the community by making the tennis club as accessible as possible and offering tennis sessions for all sectors of the community. As well as being a park court which is open for the public we have nearly 200 adult members, 150 juniors, and a thriving disability tennis programme for students at Lifeworks College and Bidwell Brook Special School. This initiative of providing free tennis for students with learning disabilities was the catalyst for developing the sensory garden. The project has been particularly beneficial to the students and proves an ideal and very purposeful project for them. Being involved in the planning, learning new skills, what is required and working alongside expert landscape gardeners and willing volunteers, the students have really begun to feel they belong to a team.