St Raphael's Edible Garden - the transformative power of community gardening revealed

The site May 2015

August 2015

Pride after planting seeds September 2015

Constructing the pond September 2015

It was lovely to visit the St Raphael's Edible Garden, one of Sufra NW London's amazing projects today. The garden not only provides vegetables and fruits for the food bank and Sufra's cooking activities, but is itself a therapeutic oasis for the local community.

I have included the images above  that I took on a visit early in the projectso you can judge what has been achieved in just four years by the workers, hundreds of volunteers and local community.  This is how the Edible Garden looked today - from a piece of derelict land to this!

The teaching tipi

Inside the polytunnel

Social Space The garden is open to the public Wednesday to Friday 10am to 4pm where you can go and relax and have a free cup of tea.

There is a Growing Club  taster-session every Wednesday from 10am-4pm where you can try your hand at a range of gardening activities.

Regular Gardening Volunteering takes place Monday to Friday with morning and afternoon sessions. Free but registration required,

Artisanal Workshops are held on the first Thursday of every month during term time and run from 4.30pm to 6.30pm - creative projects for all the family. Registration required,

Growing Academy - various dates. Accredited horticultural course that teaches young people about plants, soil, flowers, vegetables and growing. Free but registration required.

Corporate Volunteering and Team Building  Companies/organisations can come and volunteer for the day helping to maintain  the garden through DIY projects. Enquiry for details and fees.

More information on these activities:

admin@sufra-nwlondon.org.uk
020 3441 1335
160 Pitfield Way NW10 0PW


EDITOR'S NOTE: The St Raphael's Estate is due to be either refurbished or demolished and re-developed with some private housing. I hope Brent Council will recognise the need to preserve the Edible Garden whatever the eventual decision on the future of the estate.

Visit St Raphael's Edible Garden on Saturday afternoon

Pitfield Way, St Raphael's, Neasden, London,  NW10 0PR

Experienced food grower needed for St Raphael's Edible Garden Project

www.sufra-nwlondon.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1151911

Growing Tutor

St. Raphael’s Edible Garden

Salary: £15/hour (negotiable)

Hours: Tuesday & Saturday Mornings (8 hours/week)

Responsible to: Director

Location: Stonebridge, London Borough of Brent

Are you passionate about growing your own vegetables?

Then this job is for YOU.

Sufra NW London is a local charity, which aims to confront the causes and effects of poverty in the local community. Our service revolves around the food bank, which collects and distributes 26 tonnes of donated food annually, supporting over 3,000 people each year.

The charity is soon to launch St. Raphael’s Edible Garden, a new food growing project on St. Raphael’s Estate. The charity has recently acquired a derelict site measuring over 500 square metres, which is currently being transformed into a communal growing facility for local residents.

In preparation for the launch of the project, we are looking to recruit an experienced gardener/food grower to lead the project and oversee a community growing club. The successful candidate will need to be able to inspire others and deliver both informal and structured training in horticulture.

For further information or to apply for this role, please submit a CV, Covering Letter (no more than 2 sides) and Equal Opportunities Form by email to admin@sufra-nwlondon.org.uk. The deadline for applications is Friday 28 August 2015.

The Edible Food Garden Site that awaits development

Job Description

Role

To oversee the development of St. Raphael’s Edible Garden, facilitate all growing activities and deliver informal and structured training in horticultural to local residents and beneficiaries of the project, including children, vulnerable adults and the disabled.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

·      Preparing a seasonal growing plan, in collaboration with local residents and volunteers;

·      Overseeing the delivery of two weekly growing clubs on Tuesday and Saturday mornings;

·      Engaging a wide range of regular and one-off volunteers, including school children, vulnerable adults, older people, faith groups and corporate/public-sector teams;

·      Delivering informal and accredited training in food growing and horticulture;

·      Undertaking inventories of tools, equipment and planting materials, and subsequent procurement of new supplies in a cost-efficient manner;

·      Maintaining existing growing infrastructure and developing new growing facilities in accordance with the overall vision of the site;

·      Supporting marketing, outreach and PR activities;

·      Compiling monitoring data relating to the project and project users, as required by funders;

·      Assisting in the general maintenance and cleanliness of the site.

Additional Duties

·      Undertaking any other reasonable duties to support the development of the project;

·      Working in collaboration with the Charity’s wider projects and in accordance with its ethos and values.

Person Specification

E = Essential / D = Desirable

A = Application / I = Interview / T = Test

Competency	Specification	E	D	A	I	T
Education	Relevant qualification in gardening or horticultural		ü	ü
Experience	Developing/Managing food growing projects	ü		ü	ü
	Tutoring, coaching and mentoring	ü		ü	ü
	Facilitating structured learning programmes		ü	ü	ü
	Working with vulnerable people	ü		ü	ü
	Organising projects, activities/events		ü	ü	ü
Knowledge	Landscaping or garden design		ü	ü	ü
	Food growing, composting and harvesting produce	ü		ü	ü
	Building raised beds and growing infrastructure	ü		ü	ü
Skills & Abilities	Good communication skills, both written and oral	ü		ü	ü
	Ability to work with others professionally	ü		ü	ü
	IT Literate (Microsoft Office)	ü		ü
	Heavy lifting		ü	ü
Attitude	Honest and trustworthy	ü		ü	ü
	Positive and hard-working	ü		ü	ü
	Commitment to the values of Sufra NW London	ü		ü	ü

The post is subject to a probationary period of 3 months.