We gave gardening advice, sold plants and joined in the sunny fun at this year's spring festival.
Coventry's Food Union and Coventry Cathedral teamed up to host the event in the cathedral ruins on Saturday May 2.
At Team Springboard CIC we were delighted to invited to have a stall - we didn't have to be asked twice.
The event was a chance to catch up with existing supporters and friends. It was also an opportunity to tell people we haven't met before all about what we do. 
A big thank you to Coventry Cathedral and the Food Union for organising the event and inviting us along. And a big thank you to everyone who bought plants or just stopped by the stand for a chat.

Team Springboard Community Interest Company is looking for a volunteer director.
We are looking for someone with an interest in bringing people together to tackle social isolation. Interest in gardening is an advantage.
The role includes overseeing Team Springboard CIC at strategic level. Experience working in or running a small organisation is also an advantage.
The person will join the two existing directors in attending three to four meetings per year. The meetings are usually online with the occasional one in Team Springboard’’s community garden at the Lake View Allotments in Allesley Old Road, Coventry.
If you are interested e mail administrator Lucy Lynch at [email protected] with a CV and letter explaining how you can help.

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Foreword by Esther Kovacs, Team Springboard Horticultural Manager

Dear All Team-ZEN,

This has been both a difficult and a tremendous year! The weather has given us challenges as it was first quite cold, then very dry (so much so we used up all our rainwater, and had to fill up with tap water  3 times!). To change this we have now got 2 new thousand litre containers installed, and also more 200L barrels, and with making and using lots of our compost, hopefully making us more climate resilient!
Different groups helped us make the Palace (our big shed) more practical, and the new boots we are using fit on the new shelves, plus several books too.
We have also grown and harvested over 500 kgs(!) of organic produce, which was partly shared/enjoyed by lots of people, challenging several to learn how to cook and use different produce) and lots of it was donated to people in need!
We had several groups in too - not only helping, but hopefully helping their mental health and learning wildlife gardening and food growing,- and our wonderful ZEN regular volunteers/helpers have done so much! Of course it’s not just about growing, but also being together, and a real community - lovely, kind, resourceful and accepting people together.
Plus we still had visitors, and thanks to ZEN, I could work with 5 deprived schools in Coventry and also worked with people with SEN in Crow - sharing the vegetable and herb plants and fruit, not just growing produce, but also cooking and teaching people how to make nutritious foods!
I know I keep saying this, but nothing would happen without all of you all volunteers, helpers, fundraisers - Lucy Lynch has been great at finding opportunities and helping us keep going, and getting me to fill out needed paperwork… (also Jarem!), we even started working with a big company looking after their houseplants, and already had worked a bit with SEN people there. 
Last, but definitely not least I must mention all the wonderful Funders helping us to keep going - providing funding for projects, compost, plants, seeds, tools, and all things needed to keep going!
 It all will help us to be able to work in ZEN, and hopefully keep making people happier and showing how important Nature is, while growing local, tasty, organic food! 
THANK YOU ALL :)  


Team Springboard Mission Statement
We are committed to use horticulture/nature to:

• Support people to smash barriers into work
• Raise awareness of environmental issues
• Encourage healthy eating and lifestyles
• Protect Wildlife
• Build Community
• Reduce social isolation    

Team Springboard CIC Theory of change

Inputs                                    Outputs                   Outcomes                        Impact
Funding                     Open Volunteering sessions    Learning to grow food       Well being
Time of volunteer                                                   Social interaction
directors                                                               Exercise and fresh air                                                                                                                             Organic produce  
                                                                            Improved social skills
                                                                            Better wildlife habitats

    



The Zen Garden
The Zen Garden is at the heart of Team Springboard CIC. This is a large rented plot on the Lake View Allotments site in Allesley, Coventry, where the regular open gardening sessions take place.
Team Springboard is passionate about bringing people together. In a society where people are increasingly encouraged to think about the things that divide them, Team Springboard reminds people of what can bring them together. At the ZEN Community Garden and in other places Team Springboard goes, people work alongside each other to grow food and create wildlife habitats. They chat and laugh over the hot drink and biscuit break and the Christmas celebration which takes place in the garden all day outdoors in the chilly December weather. And they feel the satisfaction of helping to grow food for people who don’t have enough.
Sustainability underpins everything at the Zen garden. The no dig policy promotes soil health, any pest control and fertilisers used are organic, rainwater is harvested and stored and green waste is composted. Many of the plants are grown from seed saved from the previous year.


Why we do what we do
When people come to the Zen Garden they benefit from the company, exercise, fresh air and enjoyment of gardening with Team Springboard. 
Academic research confirms what happens day to day. This article on the British Psychological Society website summarises research projects linking gardening with mental wellbeing.
Cultivating wellbeing and mental health through gardening | BPS
The article cites research linking the exercise involved in gardening and time in nature with wellbeing. The article also underlines the benefits for different age groups and gardening in different contexts such as home, at school or as in Team Springboard’s case in the community.

Open Gardening Sessions
This year Team Springboard CIC had 48 participants who did 968 hours across 81 open gardening sessions between them. 
The sessions were targeted towards people who benefit from the well being aspects of gardening. These included the long term unemployed, recent migrants getting to know the UK and people living with health conditions, some of them with mental health conditions, and neurodivergent people.
Team Springboard CIC was grateful to have 375 hours of volunteer help, mainly from corporate volunteers helping out as part of day long team building sessions. 
A survey showed participants felt that they are doing something useful, connecting to their community, learning something new and feeling happy when gardening with Team Springboard.

Case Study
Des and Dee moved from Hong Kong to Coventry in 2022. They garden once a month with Team Springboard on the Saturday volunteering days, despite moving an hour away a couple of years ago.

Des 
We started coming to Team Springboard in April 2023. We went to the Peace Orchard and Esther was there with a table promoting Team Springboard. I was new to Coventry and said: ‘where’s Allesley Old Road?’ (location of Team Springboard’s Zen community garden) and Esther showed me on Google maps and said: ‘Come next Wednesday.’ We did.
We both started to enjoy gardening when we came to Team Springboard. Coming here helped us integrate into British culture through gardening.
Dee
We hadn’t gardened before. We didn’t have a garden in Hong Kong. Renting a small plot costs a lot. And there is a waiting list. So gardening was new for us.
We have been moved so much by Esther and the team’s welcome and generosity. We love the culture of diversity here at Team Springboard and we benefit from the inclusivity.
We enjoy the wildlife here - we have seen a fox.
We have a small garden and we garden how we have learnt at Zen. We have some long grass and bare soil. Pied wagtails, woodpigeons, blackbirds and magpies come to the garden. We bought a composter and tried it for a year. It didn’t seem to be working. Then suddenly it turned into compost. We were so pleased.’

Contract Work
The CIC in Team Springboard CIC stands for Community Interest Company. That means doing contract work as well as grant funded open gardening sessions. The surplus from the contract work is combined with grant money to keep the open gardening sessions going.
This year for the first time Team Springboard worked with the School Food Matters charity. Team Springboard’s horticultural manager Esther Kovacs delivered the Coventry part of their National Lottery funded nationwide Young Marketeers project. Esther worked with pupils in primary schools to grow food in school gardens and sell it on a special market day. Proceeds were donated to the Coventry Food Network - an umbrella organisation for food projects in the city.
Towards the end of 2025 Team Springboard began working for an organisation in Lutterworth to care for house plants, also a new customer.
Team Springboard continues to work with Crow Recycling delivering gardening sessions at the Crow premises for people with learning difficulties.


Food Donations
Team Springboard’s open gardening session participants, volunteers and horticultural manager worked together to grow 529kg of fresh organic produce. The produce grown included apples, pears, plums, cucumbers, courgette, squash, pumpkin, chillies, Jerusalem artichokes, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, elephant garlic, onions, leeks, herbs (like lemon balm, rosemary, basil, mint, thyme), radishes, currants, blackberries, raspberries and logan berries. Some of the organic and nutrient rich food was donated to food projects in Coventry and some was taken home by open gardening session participants.



TEAM SPRINGBOARD JANUARY 2026

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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