Nature Activities at Clitterhouse Farm
1
The Pitch
Problem statement
Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics highlight the lack of access to green spaces in many neighbourhoods across the UK. 1.108 neighbourhoods are deprived of green space. That's roughly 1 in 5 of us. Children from the most deprived areas are 20% less likely to spend time outside than those in affluent areas. The Department for Education figures show that 11.585 children in Barnet were eligible to free school meals in Jan 2022, which equals 18.8% of all state school pupils in the area. Many families are struggling with the cost of living crisis and are not be able to afford children's activities or nature workshops.
Solution
We would like to use the funding to offer free / low cost nature activities for children and adults and to make our beautiful community garden accessible to all and encourage people to spend more time outdoors. We will run 38 hours of forest school, nature play and gardening workshops over 3 months. We will focus on mental health The project coordinator will liaise with our 2 local primary schools to identify children from disadvantaged backgrounds or families who might particularly benefit from this scheme.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
We are very proud to have won the Open City London Stewardship Award 2022 in the Open Spaces category, which is proof of the incredible dedication and hard work of the Clitterhouse Farm team, our volunteers and our community. Our community garden and cafe are located in Clitterhouse Playing Fields, which is a huge open space in north west London. There are not many places in urban London, where children can run free, enjoy the outdoors and connect with nature. We run regular inspiring arts & crafts and nature workshops for both children and adults.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Forest School / Tutor Fees | £1,520 |
| Equipment | £240 |
| Project Coordinator, 1h/week | £240 |
Beneficiaries
200 people
Who will benefit
Expected impact
According to the latest research being in nature reduces anger, fear, and stress and benefits our overall mental health. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical well being, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.This project aims to encourage disadvantaged children and families to rediscover the joy of being outdoors through free and low cost activities.
Track record
Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm relies on regular Funding Applications to build a local community hub. We saved the old Victorian manor house from demolition and have build a community garden, a community cafe and three indoor workshop spaces. See www.ouryard.org. We run regular arts & crafts and nature workshops and build important connections with our local community through neighbourhood projects like last year's "Planters of Hope".