A social enterprise hopes to raise £11,000 to be able to teach schoolchildren about growing their own food, writes Finn Logue

A new project is raising money for gardening and horticulture sessions in four Enfield schools.

The ‘Growing Together’ project will work with St Matthews, Suffolks and Merryhills primary schools, as well as Laurel Park, a secondary school in Arnos Grove.

The project will develop the schools’ gardens, grow their own produce and run regular gardening sessions. These will be run by Growcrew, a community interest company which aims to transform school gardens and bring the wonders of natural life to education.

The project will teach children in Enfield to grow their own produce and learn about the process of food production, from sowing seeds to harvesting. The mission is to promote sustainability, healthy eating and biodiversity in a fun and engaging way.

Boyoon Choi, who runs Growcrew, told the Dispatch: “We want to support schools with gardening. I want to help local children in educational settings, who may be struggling with money, to grow their own food. Eventually I’d like to expand into the community, youth clubs for example.

“It’s definitely really helping [the children]. I’ve been running gardening clubs at Merryhills for the last two terms. It’s been so nice to see children spend time outdoors and try different things.”

Growcrew is seeking to raise £11,000 in total in order to kickstart the project. Enfield Council has itself pledged £5,000 towards the initiative, but only on the condition that the total fundraising target is met.

Support the project via the Spacehive crowdfunding page:
Visit spacehive.com/growing-together-enfield-school-gardens#/costs

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