PURE Community Projects
Community Initiative Projects with local Councils
Since 2008, we have been working with Stockport Council’s Town Centre Care and Repair Team on their Community Pride initiative. We have created another project, through the creation of a team of service users who work with the council team and have made a major improvement across the heart of Stockport undertaking essential work around the Council’s town centre car parks. Tasks include laying tree bark, cutting back shrubbery, and improving landscape areas through weeding, litter removal, hoeing and other duties as required.
Councillor Stuart Bodsworth, Executive Member for the Environment, said: “We are delighted that this partnership with Pure Innovations is working so well. Not only will their assistance help boost the work already underway, particularly in our local car parks, but it will also help to provide people in Stockport, who face major barriers to employment, with genuine training and volunteering opportunities. It is all about making Stockport a cleaner, greener, safer and stronger place to live, work and visit.”
We are pleased to be involved with this initiative, as an extension to the work we already undertake with the Council in the borough’s parks and schools. It gives our service users, many of whom have spent many years in long term care, but now volunteer to participate in our projects an opportunity to utilise many of the skills learned, but in a different environment, allowing for greater integration into the town centre community, as well as contributing to the regeneration of the area.
Working with Schools and Nurseries
We work with a number of local primary schools and nurseries in both Middleton and Stockport, providing essential grounds maintenance and gardening tasks.
These initiatives are an extension to our other successful projects. We provide the schools with a regular service which is not currently available and undertake tasks such as weeding, keeping flower beds and hedges neat and presentable, litter picking, sweeping and planting. These are all tasks that continually need doing but are often overlooked.
The partnership with the schools allows our service users to be fully included in a lively vibrant environment or the school and gives pupils a good understanding and awareness of the needs of disabled members of their community.
Kath Conwell, Head of Adswood Primary School in Stockport says “schools are a great place to foster community cohesion and the pupils and staff look forward to the visits – a great way to experience citizenship and enterprise”.
In Middleton, there is a link between the Park Wardens and Schools project as some of the plants not used in the park are donated to the schools for use in their grounds. This has been made possible through the partnership with Pure.
Fundraising for Local NHS Hospital Trust
Our day service in Alkrington, Middleton has created a new volunteering project, fundraising at the North Manchester General Hospital, part of the Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust. They were approached by the volunteering Coordinator who had heard about the other projects undertaken in north Manchester. It was decided that Pure Innovations would run a stall at the entrance to the hospital in Crumpsall selling essential items that patients may require if admitted to hospital.
The project commenced in September, and currently has raised over £3000 to the Trust. The stall is extremely successful, provding a service that is not available at the hospital, and is used by a wide range of people to the hospital including patients, visitors and staff. The donation will help support and enhance the Trust's services and patient environment.
This project is an example of how our service users can participate in a regular valued daytime activity which enables them to be involved with the local community, promoting service users confidence and combating social exclusion.
