martin calderwood's Recent Activity

"Putting Down Roots is a gardening project for people who are currently homeless or have been in the past, or who are at risk of becoming homeless. We work in hostel grounds, public parks and on our own allotment, developing gardening skills, growing organic vegetables and carrying out hard landscaping and building projects. We have many types of garden, so everyone can take part and find something enjoyable to do - whatever their abilities or physical difficulties. The main emphasis is to support our clients to gain skills, qualifications, paid and voluntary work. We have a mix of men and women taking part in the programme. One woman participant Julie says: ‘I have completed the first unit of the OCN course and am now doing the second unit. It is interesting and informative. There is always something new to learn and I am learning new skills.’ ‘It gives me something to do instead of just twiddling my thumbs at home. We’re dealing with the plants- be it planted from seedlings, to propagated, to potted and then to actually plant them in the earth. It’s to do with not just the practical and the planting and watching them grow and picking them all, but also the theory behind it.’ ‘It’s made me much more aware of things at their natural source. It’s very nice to crop a plant you’ve actually grown from seed. It’s a very good project as it’s in the open and outdoors. It’s a very healthy and nice thing to do.’ See Julie’s interview in our new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjtDJpr9f2k or for more information see http://www.mungos.org/pdr"
Reply To: Skills and Employment