An FSB member who runs a community interest company helping people explore sustainable ways of living while also improving their mental health, has issued an appeal for help from the local business community ahead of ambitious growth plans in 2022.
But like for so many people, when Covid-19 struck it presented an insurmountable challenge to the way operations at Buile Hill was being run, which was entirely on a voluntary basis. The offsite work Mark did as a sole trader dried up during lockdown, and with it the financial freedom enabling him to volunteer to manage the site.
Mark, who has volunteered his time as the site manager since February 2020, said: “We have big plans for 2022, and our vision is to develop the community gardens and community café into a sustainable community hub for local residents and park users to enjoy. But we are desperate to get some local businesses on board to help us do that.
“So we’re looking for sponsors who can provide food in the café, pre-packed food such as biscuits, crisps, as well as drinks, but what we really need is money to buy the things we can’t scavenge to get it off the ground and help to create paid jobs for local residents, and enable us to open seven days a week. We’re exploring grant funding but we would really like the support of the local businesses community to input their skills to help make it a sustainable and viable community asset business,” he added.
At present Mark is only able to volunteer time to run the café and the allotment outreach programme for four days a week at present. His future plan is to open seven days a week, have paid to run the café, which would in turn deliver more revenue to invest back in to the outreach side of the business and fund more work in the community.
We do fantastic work here with all different types of people and all different age ranges, we’re hoping that with the continued support of the local community donations we will be able to expand the scale and scope of this work to do so much more.
“We want to offer social prescribing sessions for those with physical and mental health, needs alongside team building sessions. We want to create a compassionate environment where people feel comfortable discussing mental health and supporting each other through difficult times, with professional guidance on hand.
“We have all experienced an unusual and challenging time during the pandemic, some people need more help than others to adjust to the new ways of living, by being compassionate and supportive we can do this together to create a brighter future for all.
Mark added: “We also want to open up the community gardens even more to make it a bigger community asset for dog walkers, nature lovers, and continue to provide a place buzzing with laughter, music and games. We have so much wildlife here, there is a wetland habitat, we have a bowling green which is now home to Salford Croquet Group, we have space for events. We’re reimagining cottage industries for the modern day, doing on site what people would have done to exist on land long before the industrial age. There’s so much potential here, we just need a bit of help to make it happen,” he added.
