On Tuesday 5th April, the Veolia Environmental Trust attended the opening of the Broadgreen Hospital Community Garden in Liverpool, along with Sue Musson, Chair of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Taking root in the community
Funded by a £150k award from the Veolia Environmental Trust, Broadgreen Hospital Community Garden is a multi-purpose outdoor space, designed to improve the health and well-being of the local community in a number of ways. Firstly, the garden contains a food-growing patch which members of the community maintain, and which also provides the opportunity to engage in gardening workshops. The fresh produce grown will be used to promote the benefits of good food for health.
In addition, everyone can improve their physical health on the new free outdoor gym, which is digitally enabled to allow users to track their exercise on an app, as well as allowing users to charge their phone on the equipment. Most importantly, the garden provides a space for hospital patients and staff, along with members of the local community, to find a moment of peace and enjoy the outdoors, particularly in the wild garden with its range of native English plants. This also helps to enhance biodiversity on the site, as the trees, shrubs and wildflowers and provide shelter and food for a range of wildlife. On the day of the garden's opening, the Trust's Executive Director, Andrew Brown, turned his own hand to gardening, as he planted a tree alongside Sue Musson.
The Veolia Environmental Trust
This project is just one of the many to receive funding from the Trust in the 25 years since its inception. A Registered Charity, the Trust supports a wide range of community and environmental projects throughout England, including planting new woodlands, making community buildings more sustainable, creating community spaces and much more. Since the Trust was established, Veolia has contributed over £96 million, which has been used to award more than 2,500 grants to worthy projects. The Broadgreen Hospital Community Garden is just the latest example of a collaborative project between the Trust, Veolia and an external stakeholder, which has made a valuable contribution to the local community and wildlife.
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