Appeal — The Sunnyside Orchard Nursery 2024
Randle Siddeley teamed up with Arit Anderson to visit Sunnyside Rural Trust where we are developing a new service to support young people with learning differences. We aim to help them discover what they’re good at rather than live with the labels given to them. We will create a place to learn, work, heal & develop a strong sense of self & one’s place in the community. In memory of Randle Siddeley’s mother, who sadly passed away recently, we’ll be naming the greenhouse ‘The Jacqueline Kenilworth Greenhouse’ where we will be growing from seeds & cuttings from Tom & Sue Stuart-Smith’s magnificent Plant Library. It will commemorate her love & pride for her son Randle, who has achieved so much & supported so many to lift themselves up. We hope this will stand as a beacon of hope for those written off by society, that there is always choice. We hope to see many wonderful things grow here.
Our new service for 2024, The Sunnyside Orchard Nursery:
Sunnyside wants to offer a new service providing horticultural therapy, high quality perennial plant growing, training & education, a sustainable social enterprise & a community hub in Serge Hill, Herts. The land is owned by the Stuart-Smiths who have given us access to the impressive Plant Library on site, to propagate & collect seeds from. The nursery will offer an innovative, dynamic service for some of the community’s most vulnerable people. Sunnyside will grow perennials here for commercial sale while supporting & training vulnerable young people & adults with learning disabilities in horticulture.
Sunnyside’s base: The main object of fund-raising is to create a safe space to work from. The site will include the purpose-built Jacqueline Kenilworth Greenhouse, a mess room, level standing-out areas & a composting area.
What do we need?
The building of the Orchard Nursery continues to move forward. This will be a dedicated social enterprise growing perennials and offering horticultural therapy services. We are still short of our funding target for the greenhouse by £35,000, all other aspects have been funded now. We are extremely grateful to Randle Siddeley for his generosity and support, Size construction, Walter Lilly and the other generous donors on this project. Going forward we are seeking sponsorship of apprenticeships for the Orchard Nursery and in mainstream employment. We would be interested in hearing from businesses that want to take on an apprentice and offer meaningful work to a wide range of people as well as financial sponsorship to give people an opportunity to contribute to their community, to be productive and find a pathway to independence.
GREENHOUSE – total required £60,100
Donate here – Thank you for your donation.