Gardeners Wanted

Vale Volunteers Gardening Services is part of Community Impact Bucks, an independent charity helping members of the public to get involved in community activity. Since 2003 we have been providing a charitable year-round gardening service to people living in Buckinghamshire who are often vulnerable, isolated and living alone in the community. Typically, our service users are older people or people living with disabilities; most live in disadvantaged areas with multiple problems, including poverty and higher crime rates.

The Gardening Service is volunteer-delivered and provides a rewarding activity in the form of a ‘green gym’, where volunteers have the opportunity to: improve their health through regular physical activity; increase their employability through training and development and to enhance their social networks. Our gardeners represent a broad cross-section of ages, gender and ethnicity.

Primarily, the volunteers cut grass, do light digging, prune, weed, trim bushes and collect/bag-up green waste. Other services offered include garden clearances; community-level growing; therapeutic and defensive planting; community engagement; befriending; training and mentoring.

In addition to helping individuals, The Gardening Service also carries out ad hoc Community Regeneration projects. These projects are set up to reclaim unkempt areas that have suffered from years of neglect and as a result attract crime. These projects provide us with the opportunity to engage with residents and local community groups to encourage and support their participation in these projects through their ideas, suggestions or hands-on involvement.
We are always looking for more volunteers to carry out this valuable work. They don’t need to be an expert, they just need enthusiasm. Both novice and experienced gardeners are welcome. Involvement in this project would make a big difference to people’s lives.

If you would like to help, please contact Leona on 01296 744736 or send an e-mail to leona@communityimpactbucks.org.uk