A grow your own food project at Blenheim Road Community Primary School has been boosted thanks to Bron Afon Community Housing and Travis Perkins Managed Services.
During the next academic year, the school is reopening their ‘Big Bocs Bwyd‘ project, a community hub offering essential food supplies to families in need.
The school successfully applied for gardening materials for the project through Bron Afon’s community benefits scheme, which includes a donation from a social value fund run by Travis Perkins, one of the social landlord’s contractors.
Carrots and potatoes
Large planters, topsoil, a hose pipe and a range of tools will help pupils grow carrots, potatoes, parsnips and many more vegetables for the community.
Paul Keane, executive headteacher, said: “Our vision for the project is to cultivate an abundance of fresh produce that will continuously supply and revitalise our Big Bocs Bwyd initiative.
“This heartfelt programme operates on a “pay as you feel” model, allowing us to offer nourishing produce and wholesome meal packs to students, their families and the broader community. Through this initiative, we aim to create a vibrant network of support and sustenance, fostering connections and ensuring no one goes hungry.”
‘Fresh produce’
Melissa James, family and community engagement officer at Blenheim Road Community Primary School, said, “Thanks to the generous funding from Travis Perkins and Bron Afon, our school can now grow fresh, home-grown produce! This means we can provide fresh produce not just for our students and families but also for our wonderful community.
“We can’t wait to get planting and putting the whole project into our daily schoolwork life.”
Sharon Crockett, interim head of direct services at Bron Afon, said: “We are very proud to be supporting this fantastic project, which not only teaches children the value of growing and consuming fresh healthy produce, but also gives something back to the community and families in the local area.
“We look forward to seeing and supporting the project evolve and grow in the future.”
Molly Harris, accounts manager at Travis Perkins, said: “I was delighted to be invited to Blenheim Primary School in partnership with Bron Afon.
‘Wonderful initiative’
“Working together, we used the Travis Perkins Social Value Fund to provide planters for the children to grow their own produce. This wonderful initiative will allow the children to share their homegrown fruits and vegetables in the Big Boc Bwyd shops – helping to ensure that no families in the community go hungry.
“The ‘buy as you can afford’ approach is a fantastic idea that supports local families while giving children the opportunity to run a shop and develop valuable buying and selling skills.
“A huge thank you to everyone involved for letting us be part of this journey. I can’t wait to see the planters full of fresh produce soon!”