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International Victory for Offshoots and Groundwork Pennine Lancashire Groundwork Pennine Lancashire is celebrating after its Offshoots Permaculture Project was presented with the bronze award for Best Education and Sustainability Awareness Project at the International Green Awards last night. The Awards took place at the National History Museum in London and celebrated the environmental achievements of companies from Australia, Asia, Europe, African and America. Judging for the event was carried out by environmental experts including the former presidential candidate for Brazil, Marina Silva, environmentalist and explorer David de Rothschild and the former President of the Royal Geographical Society, Sir Crispin Tickell. The Offshoots Permaculture Project received the bronze award for its community training programme which incorporates organic food production, eco-building construction and eco-art therapy on the site’s acre of fruit and vegetable beds, eco-buildings and polytunnels. Managed by Groundwork Pennine Lancashire and the Offshoots Project Committee (which is made up of members of the local community), the site has developed into a successful community project that attracts over 6,000 visitors a year. “This is a culmination of fourteen years of evolution and proof that great things can come from humble beginnings,” said Phil Dewhurst, Project Manager at the Offshoots Project. “With the help of our local communities we’ve transformed a derelict piece of wasteland into a thriving permaculture garden and land training centre. Winning this Award is testimony to all the hard work and dedication that the project inspires – from staff, volunteers and members of the community. We’re absolutely delighted.”

International Green Award Celebratory Event Monday 19th December 2011 - 11am till 1pm, Burnley Town Hall As a result of our international success, the Mayor and Mayoress of Burnley have invited Offshoots to celebrate their win at Burnley Town Hall. This is a great honour and we will be proud to display the many skills and activities that are delivered here on site through our education and socially inclusive programmes. Activities demonstrated on the day will be: - willow weaving - drawing and illustration - wood sculpture - dry stone walling and stone sculpture - green woodworking (bodging) There will also be display information about Offshoots, our Bees in the Borough project and the Branch Out project we are involved with.

International Victory for Offshoots and Groundwork Pennine Lancashire

Groundwork Pennine Lancashire is celebrating after its Offshoots Permaculture Project was presented with the bronze award for Best Education and Sustainability Awareness Project at the International Green Awards last night. The Awards took place at the National History Museum in London and celebrated the environmental achievements of companies from Australia, Asia, Europe, African and America.

Judging for the event was carried out by environmental experts including the former presidential candidate for Brazil, Marina Silva, environmentalist and explorer David de Rothschild and the former President of the Royal Geographical Society, Sir Crispin Tickell.

The Offshoots Permaculture Project received the bronze award for its community training programme which incorporates organic food production, eco-building construction and eco-art therapy on the site’s acre of fruit and vegetable beds, eco-buildings and polytunnels. Managed by Groundwork Pennine Lancashire and the Offshoots Project Committee (which is made up of members of the local community), the site has developed into a successful community project that attracts over 6,000 visitors a year.

“This is a culmination of fourteen years of evolution and proof that great things can come from humble beginnings,” said Phil Dewhurst, Project Manager at the Offshoots Project. “With the help of our local communities we’ve transformed a derelict piece of wasteland into a thriving permaculture garden and land training centre. Winning this Award is testimony to all the hard work and dedication that the project inspires – from staff, volunteers and members of the community. We’re absolutely delighted.”

International Green Award Celebratory Event
Monday 19th December 2011 - 11am till 1pm, Burnley Town Hall

As a result of our international success, the Mayor and Mayoress of Burnley have invited Offshoots to celebrate their win at Burnley Town Hall.

This is a great honour and we will be proud to display the many skills and activities that are delivered here on site through our education and socially inclusive programmes. Activities demonstrated on the day will be:

- willow weaving
- drawing and illustration
- wood sculpture
- dry stone walling and stone sculpture
- green woodworking (bodging)

There will also be display information about Offshoots, our Bees in the Borough project and the Branch Out project we are involved with.

Offshoots Appears in the Northcote Magazine!

The Winter/Spring 2012 edition of the Northcote magazine, produced by Nigel Haworth, local celebrity chef, features a 2 page article on our Bees in the Borough project. The article talks about the project and the importance of our native honeybee.

To see the article, click the following links:

PAGE 1 - Northcote Magazine
PAGE 2 - Northcote Magazine

We are very happy to have the support of such a prestigious, local restaurant group.

For further information about the Northcote, their website is:

http://www.northcote.com/

Theresa and Michael

Offshoots 'Embraces' Leonardo da Vinci

Not literally, of course!

The Leonardo da Vinci Trust Fund is an international organisation whose purpose is to provide cultural work exchange placements for young European people. For the last eighteen months, the Embrace Coop Ltd, based here in Burnley, have been facilitating the accommodation and work experience placements for young people from Germany.

Offshoots has been happily providing work placement opportunties for the last 12 months and currently, we are enjoying the company, skills and experience of Theresa Schmidt and Michael Haferkamp.

Theresa has a background in Landscape Ecology and is currently helping us with various projects and activities on site. Michael is a trained cabinet maker and has agreed to assist in the building of a solar kiln, with which we will season timber from Towneley woodlands and herbs and tomatoes from the garden.

We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with Embrace in the future!

Towneley's Heritage and Woodland Day

A great day was had on site on Sunday 11th September at Towneley's Heritage and Woodland Day.

Approximately 3,000 people visited the Festival and many experienced the many crafts and activities taking part on site. There was willow weaving, wool spinning, chain saw sculpture, the Bees in the Borough project launch, bread making in our new cob bench, story telling, face painting, dry stone walling and bodging!

See the GALLERY page for images from the day.

Offshoots entrance sign

Offshoots - a Member of the Permaculture Association's LAND Project

Offshoots is a registered member of the Permaculture Association's LAND project. This is a 4 year project run by the Association to create a permaculture learning and demonstration network across England. The LAND project is a Big Lottery Local Food funded project.

This is an exciting opportunity to provide training and skill sharing events, provide volunteer opportunities, promote Permaculture through talks, short courses, visits and practical activities, and generally make Permaculture more widely known and used across Britain.

Further information about the LAND project and Permaculture, please visit the Permaculture Association's website - CLICK HERE

The Bach Flower Remedy Garden
- a new project for 2011

Discover a natural way to support your health and wellbeing with the Bach Flower Remedies, made from plants grown at Offshoots.

We aim to grow all the Bach Flower Remedy plants in one place, which we think will make us a world first!

We offer regular workshops on using and making Bach Flower Remedies.

Visit the Bach flower remedy garden blog for news and photographs - CLICK HERE

Wooden Flowers

Team Building Events at Offshoots -

Groundwork Pennine Lancashire Challenge Day
Groundwork Pennine Lancashire held their Challenge Day here at Offshoots - a team building event for all staff. Many activities were carried out including tree planting, gardening, creating raised beds and path laying. The afternoon's activity was a treasure hunt centred around Towneley Park.

The day was a great success and enjoyed by all!

Lancashire County Council's Transport Planning Department - Away Day at Offshoots
The County Council's Transport Planning Department came to Offshoots for their annual team building event.

Members of the Department worked alongside Offshoots staff, local bodger (green woodworker), Glen Roberts and Andy Wild from the Community Restart team, to learn about charcoal making, green woodworking, insect box making and composting. The Event was a total success with a sea of happy faces and lots of useful, on-site tasks performed and valuable training received. Some staff even made wooden flowers to take home!

School Visit - St Christophers C.E. High School, Accrington
We had a visit from St Christopher's C.E. HIgh School, Accrington.
The children were given a tour of Offshoots, together with many tips and advice for their own eco group.

They went away full of ideas and eager to try many things such as a mini greenhouse, growing herbs, a sensory garden and their favourite -an outdoor cob oven!

There was also a propagation workshop where children took some cuttings from around the garden and planted these up ready to take home.

If you would like to arrange a school visit to Offshoots, please contact Phill Dewhurst, Offshoots Manager or see the Group Bookings page for more information.


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Offshoots is managed by Groundwork Pennine Lancashire