Bellway London’s Barking Project Team has donated £500 to help grow a community gardening initiative in Barking Riverside.
The housebuilder, which is delivering 229 new homes at the Fielders Quarter West Circus development, made the contribution to the Barking Food Forest.
The project, which is run by the Thames Life Community Development Trust, benefits local children, young people, families and residents of all ages. It organises a variety of garden-related activities including planting, cultivating and harvesting vegetables, fruits and flowers.
Sessions are held every Saturday morning from 10am to noon to teach local residents how to grow their own food, from seed-sowing to harvesting and how to use the produce when cooking.
The Bellway donation will help support the day-to-day running of the charity which is working on creating a wildlife area and on-site pond on its site next to the Riverside Campus.
Nikhil Rathore, Project Lead at Barking Food Forest, said: “This donation will really help us deliver hands on gardening sessions with the community. It will also enable us to deliver a wildlife area with pond, using many reclaimed materials. It means a lot to get support from the builders working in the area.”
David Burns, Barking Project Team Managing Director, said: “The Barking Food Forest is a fantastic project which is based on land across the road from our Fielders Quarter development and provides an invaluable community green space in the area.
“Our ethos at Bellway is to not only to deliver sustainable and eco-friendly developments which provide healthy and desirable places for people to live in but also to support grassroots organisations which have a positive impact within the local area. The Barking Food Forest is a wonderful resource for the wider community and organises a range of outdoor activities which have recognised benefits for health and wellbeing.
image009.jpg“We are proud to be able to provide a financial contribution to help the organisation’s work which promotes healthy living by helping people grow their own vegetables and fruit and educates children to show them where their food comes from.”
Bellway is planning to build more than 2,300 homes across multiple phases at Fielders Quarter and at nearby Eastbrooke Village. The developments are part of the wider Barking Riverside project which is transforming the former Barking Power Station site into over 10,000 new homes along the River Thames.
