Thorne & Derrick Supports The Allotment Project 🌳💐

Published 09 Jun 2023

Thorne & Derrick Supports The Allotment Project 🌳💐.

The Allotment Project was founded in September 2020 during the pandemic. The managing director Henry Solomon Walker from Waterhouses, taught young children in the past.

He has a vision and passion to help and support the people of Deerness Valley by teaching them how to survive from nothing. Deerness Valley is a highly deprived area and he has put his heart and soul into the project.

He set up the Allotment project using his own land and money and any resources he could lay his hands on locally. With the support of the local Waterhouses Community Centre they advertised the project and began to welcome children between the age of 4 and 16 to become involved in preparing the land to grow food.

The land has no running water, electricity or sewage outlet, but by using car batteries to provide power, manually transporting water to a tank, and fitting a chemical toilet the young children of the Valley began to learn new skills and develop a new knowledge of the importance of sustainability and resilience.

To date just 33 months later, The Allotment Project has grown hugely and the land has been brought back to life. Fresh produce and eggs are grown, cooked and eaten or sold locally.

Young people play table tennis and pool, ride bikes, build tables, chairs, sheds etc, and complete a variety of other crafting projects as well as caring for animals. This week they have been learning basic skills such as tying knots in a fun way so that they can then enjoy tying their shoe laces.

They plant seeds, grow the vegetables, and then prepare and cook them on outdoor stoves. The food is then enjoyed and taken home to share with their families.  The team involved are all caring dedicated and passionate individuals with a desire to improve the lives of young people.

The Allotment project is a non- profit making community interest company (CIC) We have long term plans to connect water electricity and sewage outlet to the land so that initially we can provide a flushable toilet and utility room and then eventually a building that can be utilised during increment weather.

Please enjoy the photographs of the children enjoying the activities at the project. These have been taken recently during either a  youth club session or during the school holiday activity session.