They’re looking to identify the projects within a relatively short timeframe, and while sooner rather than later would be better for when the actual work was carried out, it could be timed to tie in with specific tasks as required.  Publicity will be organised around each donation, which will hopefully provide good local visibility for both the Newcastle Building Society and the relevant project.

In the first instance, you’ll need to provide a few key details about your project (name, location, how long it’s been going, how many people are involved, primary objectives and contact name/number) and a short statement (no more than a couple of paragraphs) on why you think you should be chosen to receive the donation.  The Newcastle Building Society will then review all the applications received and choose a project in each area to support.   

Entries need to be submitted to Mick Marston from the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens by Friday 17th May and you will be informed by email whether you’ve been successful.  Do also let us know if your group has entered!

Visitors were encouraged to bring gardening items that they had spare or no longer needed, such as seeds, seedlings, or plants, plus horticultural equipment like forks and spades, seed trays, plant pots, and hanging baskets to allow others to take the items and have a go at growing their own.

Members of Penrith Action for Community Transition (PACT) were also on hand to offer expert advice on growing your own fruit and vegetables, and get people started growing their own with their quirkily titled ‘Give Peas a Chance’ – where you grow a pot of peas for salad leaves, and get hooked!  They also gave information about other PACT activities, including another Sustain Eden project – Collective Switching.

There are plenty of pictures on Penrith Freegle’s Facebook Page, and check out the video below.

The Freegle Grow Your Own project is one of a number of Sustain Eden projects, managed by Cumbria Action for Sustainability in partnership with organisation from the private, public and voluntary sector including Alston Moor Partnership, Cumberland & Westmorland Herald, Cumbria CVS, Cumbria Rural Entrerprise Agency, Cumbria Woodlands, Eden District Council, and Penrith Action for Community Transition.  The Sustain Eden programme is made possible with nearly £1m funding over a three year period from the Big Lottery’s Communities Living Sustainably Fund.

Eden residents looking to grow their own fruit and veg this year can take advantage of the volunteer-run Freegle “Give and Take” open day at Bolton Memorial Hall near Appleby on Sunday 14th April from 2pm to 4pm. In addition to the ‘give and take’, there will be advice from experienced gardeners and the chance to get started with your very own windowsill-salad.

As the title ‘Freegle’ suggests, everything must be free, and visitors to the event are invited to bring along any seeds, seedlings, plants, saplings or tools to give away – or come to take away what’s available.  The event is the spring board for a new online Penrith Freegle Grow Your Own group, where gardeners can offer and request items to help them in their quest for producing their own fruit and vegetables.

To help people get started, those dropping in to the event will be able to pick up a kit to grow their own salad leaves from dried peas on an indoor windowsill, waggishly dubbed ‘Give Peas a Chance’. “Once you’ve taken the first step,” says Freegle volunteer Chris Cant, “you can easily make the most of the space you have available, in pots in your backyard or in your garden. You can even help out at community gardening projects in Penrith run by local environmental group Penrith Action for Community Transition (PACT).”

On the day, there will be gardening advice on what works in the Cumbrian weather and help on using recycled items in your garden or allotment.  Local member Peter Clarke has built an entire polytunnel largely out of recycled parts obtained free via Freegle which has allowed him to extend the growing season and even have year-round salad!

The Freegle Grow Your Own project which is run by Freegle and PACT is part of Cumbria Action for Sustainability’s Sustain Eden Programme, funded by the Big Lottery’s Communities Living Sustainably Fund.  Sustain Eden has themes of energy, transport, local resources and coping with extreme weather, like flooding or more recently the snowy conditions we have experienced.  “Growing our own food will make us more sustainable.” continued Chris. “There are many people with growing skills, spare seeds, equipment or space who can use Freegle to help others out.”

Freegle is an online group with over 3000 members in Eden District and over 1.4 million nationally.  It is free to join and use and now has a new gardening sub-group now available at www.ilovefreegle.org.

And for more information for householders, see this page on the .gov.uk website.

If you apply, don’t forget to let us know how you get on!

The Green Deal goes live today, giving people the opportunity to transform their homes by paying for energy efficient home improvements with the savings on their energy bills.

The Green Deal is the Coalition Government’s new initiative to transform Britain’s homes. With buildings in Britain among the least efficient in the world, the Green Deal gives homes and businesses a new way of paying for energy efficient improvements such as insulation and new heating systems.

There are 45 different types of improvements currently available under the Green Deal, helping people warm up their homes and pay for some or all of the improvements over time through their electricity bill.

From today households in England and Wales who use the Green Deal to make energy saving home improvements will also qualify for hundreds of pounds of cashback from the Green Deal Cashback Scheme. The more work households decide to have done, the more cash they could receive and packages could be worth over £1,000.

• Read the full press release on the GOV.UK website

Click through to our jobs page for more details.