Aim

To fund our KGKG group that connects people with nature, building climate resillient communities, restoring wellbeing and our environment.

Our Keep Going Keep Growing project is for Climate Action

We are one of the most nature depleted and nature deprived countries in the world.The extreme heat this summer demonstrates that we must make changes!

We designed this programme to respond to growing challenges in our community including rising rates of poor mental health and increasing social isolation which we believe is directly linked to disconnection from nature, community, and self. 

We believe that nature can have a restorative effect on our wellbeing. Nature can provide a calm breathing space to counteract the hectic pace and pressure we feel in our lives. 

In turn we share ways to care for our natural environment and the practical steps that we can take to address and adapt to climate change and take action as a community, building resilience for the future. 

Keep Going Keep Growing is our free to access nature connection and outdoor wellbeing session delivered by Changes Bristol. We use local pockets of nature in our city to run sessions all year round. We want to build climate resillient communities that can create thriving habitats within the city and mitigate against heat and flood risks and enable more local food growing. 

Sharing skills around wildlife friendly gardening supports nature recovery and creates thriving habitats for bees, birds, hedgehogs and insects and aligns with the West of England Local Nature Recovery Strategy. 

Climate Action - Our project connects people with our natural world in these ways.

Nature Connection

• We use the 5 pathways to nature connection, contact, beauty, meaning, emotion and compassion. 
• By restoring our connection with nature we grow a shared purpose to care for our environment, creating thriving ecosystems and natural habitats. 
• Identify plants and wildlife and learn more about the seasons. 
• Weaving sessions, making birdhouses, baskets and natural fencing.
• Learn about wildlife friendly gardening, in the West of England our gardens cover 8% of our land so positive changes have a big impact on nature recovery in the region.

Food

Creating local growing opportunities both in the community and at home, giving people the skills to grow their own sustainable food which reduces carbon emissions from transportation. This decreases the use of fossil fuels, synthetic fertilisers, reduces packaging waste and brings independence in food growing from intensive farming practices. 

Project Activities include:

Clearing grounds and preparing soil for planting, planting, weeding, watering, pruning and harvesting. 

Restoring Nature 

Tree planting projects. Over the last 3 years we have taken part in the Westonbirt Arboretum Silk Wood Community Planting Project, planting hundreds of new trees and learning how to mulch and take care of new forests. Our project connects with many local nature restoration projects supporting people to take positive action. 

We will be participating in The Woodland Management Project led by Forestry England and making trips to take part in the following activities: 

This summer

Care for the community planted woodland involves weeding, laying mulch and surveying the trees to give them the best chance of survival. 

Activities include:

• Measuring trees and their carbon.
• Tree and Flora Identification
• Bio-blitz and Surveys - Using guides and activity sheets to find how many different species we can spot and identify in the woodland and learn how we take scientific surveys.

This Winter

Coppicing work (cutting hazel) in Silk Wood which helps to increase biodiversity. 

Reduction of C02 

100 trees can offset around 2–2.5 tons of CO2 per year,by taking part in the Silkwood restoration our project has planted approximately 100 trees per year! The Silkwood project was launched to help restore woodland affected by ash dieback at Westonbirt, and has resulted in more than 9,000 trees being planted across five hectares of the site.

Digging, planting and protecting the mix of mostly native trees, has restored ancient woodland devastated by ash dieback. See more about our involvement here:

https://www.fowa.org.uk/blog/caring-connections

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmm9sGUfbbY

Tree planting at Westonbirt Arboretum. 

We took part in the Bristol Climate and disability forum ensuring that Climate Action Plans, projects and green infrastructure is equitable and we will continue to participate in local climate action planning.

Taking positive action such as:

Combatting Heat risk 

• Planting in the community using urban greenery to combat rising city temperatures and the lowering the impact of heat to cool our cities. 
• Plant trees or shrubs in outdoor spaces to provide cool spaces in the context of heatwaves, and planting more greenery in our homes for the cooling effect mitigating against heat risk at home.
• Hosting talks for our members on community climate action at the Wellspring Settlement and sharing information in sessions such as how we can maintain nature spaces for heat and flood, building knowledge and understanding of climate and sharing practical skills.

Who are we

We are Changes Bristol a grassroots mental health charity that believes in the power of peer support and the wisdom of lived experience, providing mental health support in Bristol for 22 years. 

Our charity supports over 1000 people a year, all across Bristol and KGKG has around 50 people taking part each year.

In our survey 89% of KGKG participants felt more relaxed, felt more connected, more useful to others and more optimistic about the future!

Why are we crowdfunding?

This funding will help us run our free weekly 2 hour sessions, connecting people with nature, learning about wildlife friendly gardening and supporting mental health and wellbeing. We need funds to help this group continue. 

Our group meets at different parts of our city, caring for sites at Strawberry Lane Community Garden, Bridge Farm, Boiling Wells at St Werburgh's City Farm, Trinity Centre Gardens, Old Library Gardens and The Wellspring Settlement Gardens. 

In our member's words: 

• "I really enjoy the beginning grounding exercise, it creates a meditative calming energy and it is great that it always connects to our surroundings. Research about our disconnection with nature shows it has a significant impact on wellbeing, so it is amazing being in a space in nature and by the end of the session you feel the positive impact of spending time being aware and considerate about our natural surroundings."
• "I notice nature beyond the group and use it to resource myself during the week. I am ‘rewilding’ myself and feel more connected to my world."
• "Learning and trying new things like cooking on a fire, growing and gardening."
• "I enjoyed sharing the food I made from the produce we grew."

Our group decides on activities that it would like to do and has held litter picking sessions in local neighbourhoods, made bird feeders, planted bulbs along street verges and has planted hundreds of trees. 

Our trained Nature facilitator has extensive skills and experience in both nature and mental health support that she shares during sessions and together with the sharing of skills and knowledge from people attending sessions make this a unique and vital group. 

"The regularity of the group is like a heartbeat to the week."

We asked people what words they would use to describe when they think of KGKG “kind, fresh air, warmth, sharing,  love,  peace,  stability, fun, community, connection,  trust,  outdoors,  mellow,  relaxed,  welcoming, quiet company,  friendly,  inclusive, calm, connection grounding, nature."

How we’ll spend the money raised

• Towards Nature Facilitator salary £2300
• Towards Venue hire £2000 for using sites like Boiling Wells, a 2.5-acre Conservation Site at St Werburgh's City Farm and Bridge Farm,https://bridgefarmbristol.co.uk/land/ for our regular 2 hour weekly sessions where participants grow and care for plants and learn wildlife friendly garden techniques and land restoration. 
• Gardening tools and equipment £400
• Staff and Volunteer expenses to travel to sessions £300

This will contribute to 12 months of sessions!

How you can help

There are three simple ways to get involved and support our project:

1. Make a donation - Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.

2. Spread the word

Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.

3. Volunteer with us

If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch through the ‘Contact’ section using the subject "I want to volunteer my time or expertise" on our project page.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made