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? 

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!

Today marks our 6 month anniversary! 

I am very proud that over the last 6 months we have:

• supported 3 young people
• created 434 hours of paid employment
• secured 4 weeks work experience for a young person at Coventry City Council
• offered 200 hours of volunteering opportunities
• completed 60 jobs across Coventry, Solihull, Warwick and Kenilworth
• mowed 20 lawns
• dug and weeded circa 250m of borders
• painted 50 fence panels and a picket fence
• cleared, cleaned and organised 20 kitchen cupboards
• jet washed 4 driveways
• strimmed and hedge trimmed bushes, shrubs and bramble
• fitted toilet seats, changed light bulbs, cleaned a greenhouse from top to bottom, moved furniture, cleared lofts and garages, recycled, up-cycled, re invigorated one large allotment and laid astroturf plus some other bits and bobs as well!
• made lots of new friends including Love Coventry, Carriers of Hope and Valley House.

Huge thanks to all our supporters - UnLtd, School of Social Entrepreneurs - Midlands, Lloyds Bank, Big Lottery, Coventry City Council, Crow Recycling and MetaSwitch Networks. We couldn't have done it without you!

Specific thanks as well to Michelle Siddall, Michelle Pitchford and the rest of the Team SpringBoard board.

We are taking a few days well earned rest to re charge and be back bigger and better for 2016!

Merry Christmas everyone and remember we are open/taking job bookings from Tuesday January 5th!

Best wishes, Kirstie 

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This is one of first weeks since we started when we have had pretty much wall to wall rain, which isn't bad going in the big scheme of things. We are still busy putting the gardens of Coventry to bed for the winter although we could do with some good strong winds to finally bring down the bulk of those beautiful Autumnal leaves. In between rain showers we are to tackle a complicated border clearance  - the border had been neglected for some years and the roots were deep and well established. The team stuck at it though and the new owners are excitedly looking forward to planting in the Spring. Great job!

We have also been doing some planning for a large job we have on next week which involves a LOT of clearance and fence fixing in order to get a garden ready to accept a guide dog! Let's hope the rain eases off for that! Also Kirstie is off to start the RHS L2 in Practical Horticulture next Friday at the beautiful Ryton Gardens. Safe to safe there is lots of excitement all round this week!

Finally, Team Tip for November: If you have pots on the ground then lift them up on some feet to prevent them getting waterlogged and of course don't forget to leave some food out for the birds - its getting tough out there! 

The last fortnight has seen us spend a great day installing some artificial grass for a customer to reduce the maintenance of their garden and complete our garden restoration in Warwick. 

We continue to be really busy.. tidying up borders ready for the winter, sucking up leaves, protecting fences and completing lots of simple DIY jobs for our fantastic customers. We have been lucky that - on the whole  - the weather has been kind to us - nice, crisp Autumn days rather than soggy, wet ones! Please keep an eye on our Facebook page for regular updates by clicking here.
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Hi, wow - it is really busy at Team SpringBoard CIC so apologies at the lack of updates. Already in September we have been organising kitchens, painting fencing, tidying gardens, clearing borders, digging out bushes, jet washing and the list goes on... I'll post some more photos of our completed work very soon but in the meantime do get in touch if you think we can help! To help you decide please check out our fabulous customer feedback!

It has been another busy week and the weather has been fantastic. We now have a 5 strong team - Jamie Leigh is our latest new recruit which means that we are now up to full strength. As soon as there is a break in our busy schedule we will get some biographies published with a little more information about the team.

We have completed another 2 garden tidies this week - both customers left us some fabulous feedback which was lovely  - the team always enjoy the end of the job not just because everyone gets a rest but we also get the feedback! 

Next week - we have gardens, jet washing and some graffiti removal to get on with...

Our job today was to help a lovely customer clear an allotment that had grown a little out of control! We tackled stinging nettles, weeds, loads of grass and rain... Today we spent just under 3 hours doing some basic clearing and you can really see the difference! We will be back later in the week to finish the weeding and reinstate the pathways to the sides and back and shall also try and get the water buts back into use! Then the fun stuff we may get the chance to help our customer plant and grow some winter veggies!

We are delighted to announce that Team SpringBoard has some new recruits.. Michelle is our Youth Development Manager helping our young people really get an understanding of what jobs & careers they are interested in and supporting them to identify and achieve those goals. Alistar and Kayleigh have joined us as Crew Members and have been thrown themselves into life at Team SpringBoard by getting stuck into a variety of challenges!

Last week we were helping "Maria's Tree Service" to move a felled tree and a holly bush from a house in Earlsdon, Coventry. The tree looked tall when it was standing but on the ground it was massive! Fortunately we had the use of a large van to get it moved on up to the tip!