Last year the School Food Matters charity asked Team Springboard CIC to get involved with a growing in schools project. School Food Matters hired Team Springboard CIC to get children out in school gardens in Coventry primary schools. The scheme was part of a School Food Matters nation wide National Lottery Funded project called Young Marketeers to get children growing produce, selling it at a special market day and donating the funds raised to charity. 
Read the School Food Matters blog post about Team Springboard CIC here.

Heart of England Community Fund grant
We’re delighted to get a grant of £1,500 from the Heart of England Community Foundation. They’ve paid for the water tank by the large shed and new safety boots and there’s money for new tools. It’s the second time they’ve supported Team Springboard CIC so a big thank you.

Director changes
Kate Wozencroft and Lorna Lawrence both stood down as Team Springboard CIC directors (upaid roles)  in October. A big thank you to both of them for their support during their time as directors.

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Steel tipped boots
Ever dropped something that looks quite light on your toe? A baby’s board book, a piece of stale bread or a mobile phone? Then found out it’s not so light and it really hurts? Our toes are quite sensitive. That’s why we’ve now got a set of steel tipped safety boots for people to wear while they’re gardening at Team Springboard’s ZEN garden. Keeping feet dry and keeping toes safe. There’s a whole range of sizes and if we haven’t got your size let us know and we’ll get hold of some.

Harvest Festival
Team Springboard CIC was at Coventry Cathedral’’s harvest festival again this year. A good day with chance to meet new people and explain what we do.

Corporate groups thanks
Thanks to corporate groups from Jaguar Land Rover, Coventry Building Society and the Environment Agency for doing some of the heavy maintenance work at Zen recently.

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Left to right Lucy Winter from the Heart of England Community Foundation, Team Springboard volunteer Alex and Team Springboard director Lorna Lawrence

​A GRANT from the Heart of England Community Foundation is helping community gardening organisation Team Springboard CIC thrive and grow.
 
The £1,500 grant will go towards essentials including compost, tools, sturdy work boots for participants to use while at the garden and rainwater collection tanks.
 
The grant has come from the Foundation’s Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull Communities Fund.
 
Team Springboard CIC runs regular open gardening sessions at its Zen community garden on the Lake View Allotment site in Allesley Old Road, Coventry. The sessions, free to participants, are aimed at people who benefit from the wellbeing and social aspects of gardening. These include getting gentle exercise outdoors in the sunshine and teaming up with others who share an interest in gardening.
 
The grant will help Team Springboard continue to garden to benefit the environment. As summers get drier more water collection tanks are needed to reduce reliance on mains. Compost contributes to soil health boosting not only plant growth but helping to ensure that microorganisms thrive. Good quality tools and sturdy boots will help gardening with Team Springboard continue to be a safe and enjoyable experience.
 
Team Springboard Director, Lorna Lawrence said:
 
“Support from the Heart of England Community Foundation really means a lot to us. We can continue to bring people together in the outdoors to improve wellbeing, learn to grow food and face challenges in their lives.”
 
Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Tina Costello OBE said:
 
“At the Heart of England Community Foundation, we’re passionate about supporting grassroots organisations that make a real difference to people’s lives. Team Springboard is a fantastic example of how community-led projects can bring people together, improve wellbeing, and care for the environment. We’re proud that this grant will help them continue to grow and thrive.”
 
Team Springboard CIC is a community interest company which means it is not for profit. Surplus revenue, along with grant funding, goes towards the regular open gardening sessions.
 

Team Springboard has won the National Lottery!
Team Springboard has a £15,060 grant from the National Lottery’s Community Fund!
This will go towards providing gardening sessions at the Zen Community Garden for another year, enabling us to work with lots of different people, helping with physical and mental health, against climate change and to grow local and organic food in a wildlife friendly way to go to people in need. Thank you National Lottery players! 
This year Team Springboard has also had grants from the People’s Postcode Trust and the Next Energy Solar Fund so thank you to those two organisations as well!

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SHELTERING IN THE SHED
The weather may be wet, windy and cold but now Team Springboard volunteers have somewhere dry for tea and coffee breaks and to sit out the worst of the downpours. The new shed was finished in December. It was a real team effort thanks to everyone involved.

NEW DIRECTOR
Lorna Lawrence has joined Team Springboard CIC as a director, which is a volunteer role. We’re delighted she’s giving her time and skills to help steer Team Springboard CIC. She replaces Charley Gibbons who has recently stepped down as director. A big thank you to Charley for his contribution to Team Springboard CIC.

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GROWING AND WILDLIFE AT ZEN
The cold, wet and grey December/January weather makes most animals hide, but we did spot Muntjack deer hoofprints, fox pawprints, see and hear lots of birds around, including a grey heron, lots of bluetits and great tits, a couple of very friendly robins; and of course lots of worms under every builder’s bag, in the compost and in the soil. Hellebores are also opening their flowers to offer nectar for any first pollinator around.
We also harvested leeks, and planted Brassicas into the big greenhouse, mulched lots of areas with leaves, compost and woodchip, renewed paths, and have been cutting back hedges (mostly to comply with the committee).

SUGGESTION BOX
Any bright ideas about how to improve Team Springboard CIC? Drop them in the new suggestion box. The CIC in the name stands for Community Interest Company. One of the things that makes us different from an ordinary company is that we ask everyone involved for their ideas and opinions. So if you have something to say drop it in the suggestion box or send an e mail - details at the end of the newsletter.

IMPACT REPORT
Thanks to everybody who filled in an online questionnaire about Team Springboard CIC’s impact. The answers, reported anonymously, are part of the 2024 impact report. Read the whole report here. (If this is the printed version, just ask and Lucy can email it to you.)


FOOD DONATIONS IN 2024
Despite bad weather and other setbacks, Team Springboard CIC’s gardeners grew an amazing 315kg of produce in 2024! Most of that went to food projects helping people priced out of everyday essentials by rising costs. It’s an amazing achievement. The produce that wasn’t donated was mainly cooking apples - food projects can’t manage too many of those at once - and organic vegetables needing to be used urgently, or looking wonky  so they were taken home and eaten by Team Springboard’s participants. We love the recipe exchanges and shared ideas about them all! 

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CONTRACT WORK WITH CROW
Team Springboard is a Community Interest Company rather than a charity which means doing some paid for contract work, mostly for other not for profits. Team Springboard is working with Crow Recycling in Coventry which provides services for teenagers and adults with learning difficulties. 
A recent highlight is planting a small orchard beside the raised beds at the back. 
We also had a couple of ZEN volunteers come along and help (with the front garden), which was brilliant as a lot more could be achieved. 
All are really looking forward to seeing some colourful signs of spring soon!

Get in touch with Team Springboard
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.teamspringboard.co.uk

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Work is still rolling in fast! So fast in fact that for the time being there is no chance of keeping the blog page up to date :( BUT... please take a look on ​FACEBOOK to see all the fabulous things that we have been up to and that our young people have created! Thank you :) 

Team SpringBoard seems to really have life of its own at the moment and it is hard keeping on top of everything. But I guess that's the fun! As a Social Entrepreneur .. in fact I guess it's the same if you run any small business ... you need to become an expert in law, HR, recruitment, web design, procurement, marketing, finance, customer service pretty much overnight. You can pay other people to do these things but a/ you probably don't have any money and b/ what's the point in that when you can do it yourself and learn loads in the process! It's route b/ for me all the way, I'm learning lots fast and I need to learn to update this blog more often.

So, a quick (longer than usual) update.. 

I am really enjoying my time with The School for Social Entrepreneurs (Midlands). I am part of the East Midlands cohort comprising of about 15 fantastic, inspirational people, each with the most incredible idea to make the world a better place. We have some great learning days when we delve into a specific topic - finance, marketing etc. This week it was legal structures i.e. how on earth do you go about deciding what legal entity you need to be? I constituted SpringBoard back in November 2014 (as a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee) and the good news is that that is exactly right for us! The learning is good but the really powerful part of this course though is the interaction with other students, my peers - I just love it and a few of us are working up some brilliant collaborations. If you have an idea and are looking for support (including a tasty £4k start up grant) then definitely get in touch with them or get in touch with me if you want to know more.

Two really exciting projects have kicked off in the last week or two..

1. Paint and Succeed is a pilot collaboration between Team SpringBoard, SCCU, WhiteFriars HA and Cannon Enterprises. The objective is to support 5 Whitefriars tenants to decorate their properties so that they feel comfortable, secure and enjoy being in that space. We are going to help the tenants decorate one room (teach them some hints and tips so that they can help out other their friends and family in the future) and offer them the option of some work experience with us. SCCU Ltd are going to offer a leadership qualification and support the tenants to identify possible apprenticeships. This is a great opportunity for young people to learn new skills, gain some work experience and get a qualification! We are really excited to be part of this innovative pilot and can't wait to get started.

2. Community Roots - Stoke Aldermoor is our Community Garden Growing Project. The aim is to get the entire community of Stoke Aldermoor into the community garden to learn, grow and have fun! We will be putting in some raised beds, a wildflower garden, lots of insect habitats, a glass house and some other secret surprises. Folk can come in, grow what they enjoy and then take it home with them to eat! Community Roots will also be the base for the Team SpringBoard Traineeships which will be launching later in the Summer! The traineeships will offer opportunities for young people to complete either a Work Skills and/or a Horticulture qualification! Inner city horticulture is where it is at! The garden is based on The Vale in Stoke Aldermoor and if the gate is open come on in! It's all hands on deck because we need to get it cleared before we can start growing! Please drop by!

All of this is really exciting and as these projects have been developing we have been out and about doing what we do best - creating amazing garden transformations and helping with DIY projects. Here are just a few pictures...

If you would like to VOLUNTEER for any of our projects or if you have a skill you could share with our young people - please get in touch! I promise you won't regret it!

As usual there is loads going on at Team SpringBoard HQ - we have a number of really exciting projects that we are putting together as well as a full diary of work for domestic and business customers. A few highlights this week - Al turned 19 and we received some more fantastic feedback from one of our business customers...

If you have skills in horticulture, arts & crafts, marketing or engineering/building stuff and fancy some volunteering a few hours then please get in touch!