Activities

What the company is set up to do

How the activity benefits the community

The community will benefit by …

1 Establish and manage an indoor and outdoor Environmental Education Centre

• Increasing revenue to the area and the generation of additional rural employment.
• The provision of a new venue for local community to meet in will increase community spirit and cohesion.
• Opportunities for participation in novel activities.
• Opportunities for members of the community to learn new skills.
• Working towards making Suffolk the greenest county.

2 Restore an historic farmstead, retaining the barn, buildings and land for community use.

• Increased opportunities for learning about local heritage.
• Opportunities for participation in heritage activities.
• Access to living history for young and old.

3 Offer training in sustainable, low tech methods of construction, such as using local clay, flint, and hazel.

• Local children being encouraged to think about how to create sustainable living space.
• The provision of new opportunities and training for local householders and builders in the use of local materials, thereby reducing transport costs and the impact of heavy traffic.
• Potential for new (subsidised where necessary) career opportunities.

4 Provide a working model of energy, water and waste sustainability.

• Learning how to save money by reducing energy and water consumption and managing waste.
• Raising awareness as to what is possible.
• Reducing its carbon footprint.

5 Conserve and manage traditional orchards.

• Provision of premises for the local Conservation groups.
• Increased biodiversity as a learning resource.
• Availability of locally grown fruit, thereby reducing the need for transport and keeping food miles low.
• Having local history recorded for posterity in a range of media (web, oral, booklet, sensory).
• Local children being given opportunities to increase their awareness and enjoyment of the annual growth cycle.
• Working collectively to produce a harvest.

6 Perpetuate local species of orchard and native trees by planting community-supported orchard and woodland.

• Identifying and celebrating local heritage.
• Access to green space.
• Exercise in green space.
• Having a common goal.
• Engaging with healthier foods.
• Opportunities for schools to plant, maintain, and harvest.
• Small scale fruit production reducing car use and ‘food miles’ and increasing healthy exercise.

7 Develop community- supported horticulture

• New opportunities for local people to grow food.
• Increased physical exercise.
• Opportunities for working together.
• New opportunities (and training) for growing local food according to organic and permaculture principles.

8 Restore and maintain historic landscape, pond, ditches and hedgerows for conservation purposes.

• Opportunities to exercise in green space.
• A raised awareness of local biodiversity.
• Engaging new volunteers.
• Collaboration with local Conservation groups and Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

9 Provide a healthy and inspiring environment that provides facilities for teachers of environmental education and holistic practices.

• Increased local access to holistic exercise programmes such as Yoga and Tai Chi.
• Access to gentle exercise for all ages, offering increased mobility for the older generation and an introduction to non-competitive exercise for younger generation.
• A new social venue encouraging use by those not normally finding social activity easy.

10 Provide office/workspace/treatment rooms for green businesses and complementary practitioners

• Access to affordable space to rent
• Access to shared reception and receptionist
• Help with administration
• Access to business mentoring and support
• Access to greater client base

• If the company makes any surplus it will be used to purchase additional land. This land would be planted with local provenance trees, and used for the benefit of the local community.