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May newsletter

19/5/2025

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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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Food Union Event Coventry Cathedral
Team Springboard had a stall at the Food Union’s event in Coventry Cathedral. In April. It was a chance to sell plants and encourage people to start growing at home or in community gardens. Thanks to everyone who helped and the Food Union for organising the event.

Working in schools
Team Springboard is working for the School Food Matters Charity running gardening sessions in schools. Some of the pupils will be selling the produce on Friday July 4 in the Coventry Cathedral ruins - more details later if anyone would like to come and support them. As a Community Interest Company (not a charity) Team Springboard does contract work as well as getting grant funding.

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The Zen Community Garden in Coventry
Everything has been growing fast. A  big thank you to the regular volunteers for working hard in the garden. Thanks also to the visiting corporate groups.


Keeping Everybody Safe
Did you know we have a designated safeguarding lead? The person is horticultural manager Esther Kovacs. If you are not feeling safe, in or out of Zen, or you are worried someone else isn’t safe she’s the person to talk to.
Team Springboard director Lorna Lawrence oversees health and safety with Esther responsible for the day to day issues.


Your Views Matter
As a CIC we have to collect views from the people we work with - that includes gardening sessions participants. An online survey is coming soon. In the meantime there’s a suggestion box in the shed at the Zen Community Garden or visit www.teamspringboard.co.uk for e mail contacts.

Social Media
Team Springboard posts regularly on Facebook and Instagram and is now doing more on Linked In. If you are on Linked In follow Esther Kovacs, Lorna Lawrence or Lucy Lynch to read the latest posts.


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Earth Day 2025 is Tuesday April 22 and Team Springboard is calling for some inaction to help the planet

7/4/2025

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Team Springboard is calling for gardeners to give themselves and the planet a break on Earth Day - this year that's Tuesday April 22.
We're appealing for people to leave the lawn mower in the shed, put down the spade and set aside the pruning shears to help improve the habitats for plants and animals in the garden.
Opting out of activities that interfere with habitats can be a great way to help the wildlife in our garden from hedgehogs and birds to insects, frogs, micro-organisms and fungi.
Team Springboard’s horticultural manager Esther Kovacs said: “Lots of people have got used to cutting their lawn very short, cutting everything back to the max (or even worse taking out anything that’s alive and replacing it with plastic grass or concrete) - but we need to relearn that all of this will not only harm wildlife, but our physical and mental health too. Every little thing we do, or don’t do, adds up, and can start a green revolution! So leave your grass longer, or just leave a corner, or a swathe where you don’t touch, or a lot more rarely. Understand that if you want to help birds you also need to help them to have somewhere to nest (shrubs and trees generally), something to eat, and for that other creatures need habitats too. It is all connected - we are all connected. 
“Every bit of green you don’t touch will provide more oxygen, take away more pollution, build more carbon in and reduces carbon dioxide from the air - so we can all breathe easier. 
It will also have a huge impact on your mental health, and if nothing else convinces you - house prices are always higher in areas with more green.
“If you want to actively help, you can always grow a few more plants, even if it is a herb in a big pot on your front step, window sill or balcony, or go and find a green project near you and help them - any community garden or wildlife charity is great!.
 “If you want birds in your garden don’t just put out feeders - grow trees and shrubs, provide habitat not just for the birds, but also for what they eat, don’t keep cutting back everything. All of this will also help to clear away pollutants and provide more oxygen, protect against too hot or cold weather, and will be great for your mental health!”
Team Springboard CIC is a not for profit community gardening organisation based on the Lake View Allotments in Allesley Old Road, Coventry. Team Springboard runs regular open gardening sessions and works with other not for profits to set up and run community gardens.
For more information visit www.teamspringboard.co.uk.

Seven things not to do this Earth Day:

  1. Don’t mow the lawn- leave all or part of it to grow for insects and many other living things
  2. Don’t dig - put that spade away and help the microorganisms that live in the soil, plus don’t disturb the fungi and other networks connecting all plants - to help them stay healthier. If you need to add compost, spread it on top of the soil and let the worms, rain and gravity take it down.
  3. Don’t let rain water run down the drain - collect it for watering plants, or build a rain garden to soak it up
  4. Don’t tidy up piles of dead wood - they’re great for insects
  5. Don’t cut back all the bushes and shrubs in the garden. Let them grow as a habitat for birds
  6. Don’t cut back all the ivy in the garden- if it’s not weakening the host plant, leave it as a habitat for wildlife
  7. Don’t clear the leaves from garden borders and beds.They’ll break down over time and add nutrients to the soil.

Earth Day is on Tuesday April 22 in 2025. Earth Day, celebrated annually, marks the birth of the modern environmental movement. 

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February newsletter

7/2/2025

 
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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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Too busy gardening...

24/7/2016

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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 :) 
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Sharing Skills

9/4/2016

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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!
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Projects, Projects, Projects

24/2/2016

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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...
 I would just like to say how pleased we have been with the gardening maintenance work that yourself and your team have recently carried out on our premises.
We have struggled in the past to find reliable and reasonably priced gardeners and your team have proved to be both.
The work has been carried out efficiently and to a high standard and the outside areas are always left immaculate after your visits.
Normet UK are very happy to be supporting your initiative and will continue to use your services moving forwards. Claire Forster, Normet UK (22/02/16)
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!
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Jet wash crazy...

10/2/2016

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This week we spent a fantastic day with another great business - FWT - a centre for women a buddleia had taken over the children's outdoor play area so we removed it, jet washed the rubber floor tiles and gave the outdoor toys a clean for good measure! We loved the results!
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Corporate Unit Tidy

9/2/2016

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Its been a very busy February so far - we started with a hedge trim, litter pick and tidy up for a corporate customer. 
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Frozen leaves are slippery!

20/1/2016

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Out clearing an Autumn's worth of fallen leaves (mostly oak) today. Nothing unusual there apart from these leaves were frozen and really slippery! The leaf vacuum didn't like them at all so we pushed on the old fashioned way with a rake, a broom and bucket! It's mid/late January but definitely feels like Spring has sprung... it has been a beautiful day....are we going to miss Winter altogether? 
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The best feedback of 2016 so far....!

11/1/2016

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Lovely feedback received in the post last week! The diary for January and February is filling up nicely... most frequently asked question from customers? "When can you start to mow my lawns?" .... not just yet! We can help clearing up soggy leaves and sorting out house and garden odd jobs though! Get in touch!
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    Kirstie Kelly

    Starting a new Social Enterprise… sometimes wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew.. but loving every minute!

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