The South Pennines Park Awards 2023 were held at the legendary Piece Hall on Friday 26th May in front of a room full of amazing and inspirational people. The awards are a way of acknowledging and celebrating all those local communities, organisations and people who are working hard to make real differences for their communities and the environment. We are thrilled to share spotlights of our winners.
The winner of our Community Champion category was Stubbylee Community Greenhouses.
Stubbylee Community Greenhouses has been running in Bacup for 14 years and supports people back into the community with a focus on horticulture and the development of new skills. It focuses on rehabilitation for individuals who have physical or mental ill health or have long-term unemployment issues.
It provides open access, person-centred, holistic support to hundreds of people a year with no referral process thus reducing barriers and stigma.
Over 38,000 people per year are involved in the project, many of whom become volunteers to pay it forward.
Ben Millwaid, Chair of the group, said: “It feels wonderful. We think it’s well deserved. Everybody will be so delighted.
“A lot of people who attend Stubbylee Community Greenhouses have never won anything in their life or are at a stage in their life where they never thought they would win anything again – so it is all for them.
“It is a collaboration of what we all do as staff – mentoring people, getting people into new jobs.
“We mentor people to help them find their place in the world and get their purpose back. We give people opportunities to develop new skills and upskill, to develop themselves – and it they get a new job that’s great, but it’s not our goal.”
When asked what’s next for the group, Ben said: “It would be nice to work with other nominees that are here today at the South Pennines Park Awards and work with their organisations, develop relationships with other people making an impact and contribute to each other.”