Click on the video below to see a video from last year’s winners - Incredible Edible.
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Most Inspirational Community Group - Incredible Edible
The award of £1000 for the most inspirational community group went to the amazing Incredible Edible project in Todmorden, Lancashire. ‘A local food campaign with a twist’ is how the organisers describe their campaign, which aims to increase the amount of food grown, cooked and eaten locally and to reduce the town’s carbon footprint. From Spring 2008, an enthusiastic group of volunteers started planting herbs, vegetables and orchards in disused and neglected public spaces for the benefit of everyone in the town. The campaign is not just about growing local food, but about putting locally grown food back onto the agenda.
When we met the Incredible Edible team in person, we saw how they had transformed the garden of a retirement home into an area where the residents grew their own vegetables. It was great to see people sharing the fruits of their labour!
From those small beginnings, the project has grown to include all seven of the schools in the town, local businesses and institutions such as the health services and local authority. There is a campaign for local eggs and a return to a proper local food market. After winning our award, the group even had a two page spread in The Independent newspaper. Click here to read the full article.
Click on the video above to see Nick Green, who is one of the organisers of Incredible Edible, describing his project.
Most inspirational young community group - 1st Long Melford Scout and Guide Group
The winner of £1000 for the most inspirational young community group was the 1st Long Melford Scout and Guide Group in Suffolk. The group's meeting place and HQ has been on the same site for 40 years. It needed serious refurbishment and the group decided that the best way to raise funds was to work within the community to get their respect and support. The young people provided many hours supporting other charitable organisations in return for donations to the refurbishment fund as well as undertaking their own fundraising events. The HQ is part of their village community and is used by many other local groups but "1st Long Melford Scouts" have taken the initiative to lead the project to raise funds for restoration.
Commenting on behalf of the Kerrygold dairy farmers, Andrew Gow had this to say: “All the entries were encouraging examples of communities pulling together. We have always found this to be the best way to achieve great results and we hope that groups like Incredible Edible and the 1st Long Melford Scout and Guide group will inspire others to continue to do great work in their community.”
