London Grows is a Capital Growth initiative with the aim to improve biodiversity and increase volunteering opportunities at community gardens. The project supportsfive key TrainingHubs to deliver training and participate in the two flagship Capital Growth open days each year.
Capital Growth supports Training Hubs to recruit and manage volunteers, host workshops and open days, and grow food in a wildlife-friendly manner in an urban setting.
*Note:We welcome applications from previous hubs, but we will favour new suitable applicants when possible to give new gardens a chance to take part in London Grows
What is expected from a hub?
-Host a minimum of three training sessions, including a minimum of one led by a hub team member when possible
-Take part in 2 Capital Growth London wide open days (The Big Dig on Saturday 21 April and the Urban Harvest on Saturday 22 September)
-Help promote training and open days through networks, social media and other methods
-Provide a primary contact person for liaising with Capital Growth
-Choose 1-2 garden leaders/staff to attend free training on volunteer management
What will Capital Growthoffer?
-Funding towards the cost of running the training sessions: which includes money to cover the cost of a trainer, a handout, and other associated materials or costs agreed in advance
-Experienced help with planning training sessions and finding trainers
-Assistance developing ideas for how to attract new volunteers
-Help with publicity for training and events including our training calendar that will feature all London Grows hubs, our newsletter and social media.
-Promotion material and support to run open days
-Free training for garden leaders on volunteer management
General information
Primary Contact Name:
Site Name:
Capital Growth Space Number:
Site Address:
Site Borough:
Email:
Phone number:
Have you been a Capital Growth (London Grows) Training Hub before*?
Applicant questionnaire
Please fill out the following questions in no more than 150 words each.
- Tell us a bit about your growing project: How long has it been running? Do you grow mainly food? What kind of organisational body runs it? (e.g. volunteers, staff, board, etc.)
- Tell us a bit about how the community is involved in the project: Do you have regular volunteers? How many people are involved? Are you a residential, school or other type of community group?
- Why would you like to be a Training Hub?
- Have you hosted open days in your garden? If yes, tell us a bit about them including what activities were offered and approximately how many people came. If no, what sort of activites would you offer if you were to hold an open day?
- What training would you be interested to offer at your site, run by your own team? (e.g. if you have chickens, you could offer a training session on how to keep chickens)
- What type of training would you like to receive for yourself, volunteers and/or community group? (e.g. hiring in an outside trainer to teach garden participants about a special topic you’d like to learn more about)
- How would you promote activities in your garden as a Training Hub, e.g. training and open days?
About the garden site
- Are there any unique features to your site? (e.g. classroom, cob oven, compost toilet, etc.)
- What is your maximum capacity to host people a) inside and b) outside? Please give exact numbers if possible.
- Would you be interested or able to host a Capital Growth network event?Spring/Summer network events will be in mid-March and mid-June in 2018? Typically 40-50 peoplewill attend, on a weeknight evening, and we would require an indoor venue in case of bad weather.