Projects

The following projects are currently being delivered by Offshoots and our partners:

Summer at Howard Street Community Garden

This year promises to be even more exciting and eventful at our sister project Howard Street Community Garden! There will be activities for all together with the Community in Bloom competition, culminating in the Summer Flower Show. Why not get involved!

Community in Bloom
Enter your backyard, garden, allotment, community garden or container/hanging basket into the competition. Entry forms are to be handed into Howard Street by Friday 31st July. Judging will take place in the week beginning 2nd August. There will be a prize for the top three entries in each category. Entry into the show is FREE.
All styles of garden are celebrated - the more the merrier!

Offshoots Composting

Offshoots is involved with the collection of food waste from the Inn at Whitewell in the Trough of Bowland.

The waste is collected twice weekly from the Inn and brought to the Offshoots site where it is processed into compost using our in-vessel 'Rocket' composting machines. The Rockets accelerate the process and compost is made in 14 days!

The whole system is ABPR (Animal By Products Regulations) compliant and is approved by the State Veterinary Service.

If you would like further details about the project, please contact Phill Dewhurst, Offshoots Manager. Details are on the CONTACTS link.

Target: Well Being

Target: Wellbeing aims to help people live healthier and happier lives. It’s a programme of over 90 projects that increase exercise, encourage healthier eating and promote mental wellbeing. Funded by £8.9m from National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund, it’s managed by Groundwork for the benefit of targeted communities across the Northwest.

Here at Offshoots, we are hosting and delivering two of those 90 projects:

Offshoots Hub Project

The Offshoots team will be delivering from site the Target Well Being Offshoots Hub Project.

Those involved in the Project will benefit through the opportunity to improve their overall mental wellbeing and physical health through activities such as horticulture, traditional crafts and conservation work, and through contact with the natural environment.

Participants will also benefit through the socialising opportunities the Project presents, encouraging them to work with both people from their local community and from other areas of the Borough and beyond.

To facilitate this, Offshoots has developed a programme of workshops and courses illustrating training opportunities available to groups and individuals within the area. The programme for 2010 will be available soon. For further information on training workshops, please contact us through the links on the CONTACTS page.

Living Allotments Project

This is a partnership venture between Groundwork Pennine Lancashire and Age Concern Lancashire. Based at Offshoots and Howard Street Community Health Centre, Burnley, the Living Allotments Project team encourage communities and targetted groups to discover the health benefits offered through involvement in allotments and garden plots. The Project encourages people to increase their understanding of, and access to, healthy food, and increase their level of physical activity.

Workshops and courses are offered through the Project, from Organic Gardening to Growing Your Own Vegetables. Information is available on the Training link - click HERE for details.

The Project also works with schools to offer practical advice on school-grounds based food growing projects, ensuring healthy eating activity is linked with the National Curriculum. Schools will be supported to develop links with established allotments and learn from experienced plot holders.

Wood Be Good

With thanks to Burnley Borough Council, Burnley Community Network, the Lancashire Woodland Project, Faiths 4 Change and St Peters (Burnley) New Horizons Group, Offshoots is now the proud owner of a new mobile sawmill.

For many years, Offshoots has worked alongside Burnley Borough Council's Woodland Officer, helping to manage woodlands across the Borough. It has long been recognised by the Borough Council Woodland Officer and the Offshoots Management Committee that more could and should be done to utilise the valuable timber extracted from these woodlands during their management.

This timber resource has been used for the past 9 years to create charcoal here at Offshoots (see Gallery photo). With our new sawmill, we move to the next stage. It is now possible for us to work with many groups, and in particular the St Peters (Burnley) New Horizons Goup, to produce bespoke timber products for construction and other uses. We are already receiving commissions and will be building up stock size timber to offer at rates to suit the means of potential customers.