Liverpool YMCA

Allotments Group (Peoples Harvest)

The idea of an allotment group came about when a YMCA member, Dennis, approached Mildmay House Men’s Hostel after hearing that they had an allotment at St Brides Church in Liverpool city centre, he invited some staff members from Mildmay to attend a meeting with his key worker at the YMCA (Peter) to gauge what support the YMCA could give him and if they would like to take part?

The meeting went really well with an idea being floated to form an allotments co-operative to grow food for homeless hostels and  homeless day centre clients and excess food would be given to the cities soup kitchens to supplement there meager foods stocks. Another meeting was quickly arranged and attended by staff from the Men’s Direct homeless hostel in Green Lane Liverpool.

Other groups including The Whitchapel Centre, the Basement drop in centre, The Big Issue North West, the Old Eldonians, Urban food, Addaction and Bosco House hostel asked to be kept informed of our progress and would come to later meetings.

At the meeting it was agreed on a 3 way pilot project with Mildmay House, Mens Dac and the YMCA, starting work the very next week (24th April) on a small peace of land adjoining St Bride’s church in the city centre. The day finally arrived and we started work with a blue sky and lots of sun on our backs! All 3 hostels provided staff and clients and the site was quickly dug over and planted with the flowers and vegetables. Before we knew it, we had to go back to the hostel as clients had appointments etc, so it was agreed to return first thing the next day and plant the reminder of our stock.
The next morning at 6.45am staff and members met up in the YMCA and went over to St brides Church and finished off the planting with help from the Mildmay House team.

The next allotments day will see the groups putting up some netting on the site and planting some flowers. Then the following week the groups will start plating vegetables in the grounds of the Mens Dac hostel in Green Lane Liverpool.

Following on from our meetings we have been asked by the Big Issue North West if we would be interested in putting together a homeless garden at the Southport show in August 2010.

We have also been approached by the BTCV to see if we would help them grow/plant tree saplings in a project they are setting up in Clarks Gardens park in south Liverpool.
I would like to thank all members and staff who have supported this project and hope we can keep up this worth while work!

The Peoples Harvest - Dennis's Story

I was on the streets for about 6 weeks and trying to find a place to stay.  I was Interviewed at the YMCA and moved in on the 1st  February  2010 , with no money or food, I was given a food pack by  a member of staff, however that did not last 10 minutes because I was starving . Next day I received a crisis loan for about £24.00 I phoned them back and asked them when will they are  sending  the rest (joke).

 I lived off NOODLES all that week, and that got me thinking (I can’t afford the high price of shopping for fruit and vegetables) why not try and get some land and grow my own. I asked YMCA If they had any land (they did) but I was unlucky they had started building work on that site.

Off I go on a mission around all the hostels and soup kitchens in the “pool” and viola MILDMAY HOSTEL had a small plot donated by ST BRIDES CHURCH, I booked a appointment with Jason, one of the managers of the Mildmay hostel and all went well; since that first meeting a lot of good thing have started to materialize.

For example, people who have joined our group or have shown an interest are YMCA, Mildmay, Salvation Army, Mens Dac, Whitechaple, The Basement, The Eldonians, Barclays Bank, Urban foods, Liverpool city council and others.

We started work on the ST Brides site this month and we have a mixture of produce growing there and things are looking good.

16 people turned up to do a bit of this and a bit of that on the start day, we all had a good laugh, a brilliant lunch lashed with loads of tea and coffee, the weather was brilliant to.
I am asking you could you be 17,18 19th person to help this project to take off, it won’t cost you a carrot and you will soon be eating a good balanced diet and also donating food to the local “drop-ins” like the “Basement and the Whitechapel centre “.

The next event will be on the 23rd of this month which is a Friday and starting at around noon.

End note: We have now acquired a large plot of land in Tuebrook from Mens DAC and as time goes by we are hoping to be able to do educational courses on growing food and certificates will be awarded for your efforts.

For you to think about, a cauliflower costs about a pound to buy, a packet of seeds costs 60 pence and has about 1000 potential cauliflowers.

May I say thanks to all who have made this possible and thanks to all who will be joining us in the future!

YMCA Member Dennis