GRASS IS GREENER FOR GARDEN CHARITY THANKS TO GOODFUND
31/01/2008

The Shaw Trust’s gardening business is blooming a £3,500 donation from GoodFund, the charity arm of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

The money has provided a brand new, top of the range, sit-on lawn mower which will be used by the Shaw Trust’s “Cutting Crew”, a team of trained gardeners that help elderly people living in Easington, Seaham and Murton by mowing their lawns and generally help with the upkeep of their gardens.

The charity also makes and sells garden furniture and has a contract to supply over 10,000 plants to the local Council, all grown on the five-acre site.

Elaine Duffy, Project Officer at the Shaw Trust said:

“The Garden Centre is a haven in the centre of Seaham, offering people with learning difficulties access to skills and training that just isn’t available anywhere else.” 

“The most important part of our work is to encourage social enterprise amongst our clients and by having the right equipment, like the new mower from GoodFund, we can continue to provide an essential support service as well as operate as a fully functioning business.”

Graeme Bradshaw, 42 from Horden, has been coming to the Shaw Trust for a number of years.  He has been fully trained to operate the new mower and will be one of the first members of the “Cutting Crew” to use it when the contracts start up again in the Spring.

Manuela Wendler, Executive Manager for GoodFund, said: 

“By providing this donation to the Shaw Trust, we are helping in providing an essential service not only for the trainees who learn valuable gardening skills, but the older members of the community who benefit from their training.”

Based at Parkside in Seaham, the Shaw Trust Garden Centre provides training and finds work for adults and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities by giving them access to horticultural activities, subsequently improving their work potential and introducing new skills.

The Shaw Trust are just one of many Wearside charities who applied to GoodFund’s Charity of the Month fund following coverage in the Sunderland Echo.  Any charity based in the North East can apply for funding between £500 to £10,000 for a capital project.