2021 Community Impact Project – Construction Challenge

Our 2021 Construction Challenge is delivered in partnership with Fork to Fork, a local horticultural project and facilitated at their stunning woodland garden space at Lancaster Leisure Park. We have been working with a team of young people since May to build a series of features to practically contribute to the site, promote plants and wildlife and make a positive impact which the community, young people and volunteers at Fork to Fork can enjoy for years to come.

We planted new trees and shrubs, built a community BBQ area and pond and restored the tool shed to house equipment for the Fork to Fork site. During the process of creating these features, young people developed skills in horticulture, construction and joinery as well as learning about the natural environment in which they were working.

We began the construction phase of the project in early May, and during the half-term holidays, we built the tool and equipment shed.

During June and early July, we built a pond and a BBQ for the volunteers to enjoy.

The project concluded with a celebration event on 17th July, at which Robin Eyre, the Manger at Fork to Fork, gave the following speech:

The wonderful young people from Lancashire Youth Challenge have come to Fork to Fork, to share in the bounty of our forest garden and to undertake a number of outdoor tasks. They have been outstanding!! They have thrown their energy and skills into building an extension on our dilapidated shed and reinvigorated it into a functioning tool store and if that wasn’t enough, they have built us a new pond, enriching the habitat for the myriad of creatures that inhabit our two-acre site. ‘Give Nature and home and it will come’ is a phrase that reminds us of the environmental importance of reforestation on our small planet, and this is precisely what they are friends have done! To make their work with us, they have planted a Lime Tree, that with our commitment to care for it, may grow for 1000 years! What a contribution these young people have made to their community, we are thankful indeed for their extraordinary work, laughter and care’

We intend to continuing accessing the space for well-being sessions throughout the year, continuing our learning about the woodland environment and our place within it.

We thank Active Lancashire, The Newby Trust and The Lancaster Community Fund for making this project possible and enabling young people to make a positive difference. It is a quality example of young people making a proactive and meaningful change in their local community whilst developing teamwork and life skills, self-efficacy and learning about different elements of the natural environment.”