Aim

We empower unemployed people to become gardeners, building their skills and confidence to specialise in overgrown garden transformations!

Getting to the ‘Root’

Overgrown gardens are not always what they seem. They are the visible symptoms of other issues people may be struggling with. This could be physical health, mental health, bereavement/loss, financial struggles, or that the garden is just too much to tackle with your average tools.

For many, this can feel like the biggest weight in the world, and they need to carry it every day.

ROC Garden want to help shoulder some of that weight and help some of the most needing areas in Blackpool - transforming lives and communities by transforming gardens.

By helping those most in need, we can not only impact the individual, we can impact the whole street by improving the appearance of local areas, reduce the chances of anti-social behaviour, and help communities re-take ownership for where they live and to love it more.

Our ROC Garden team exists to do 2 main things:

• 1. To tackle issues around unemployment (Empower the unemployed towards employment through giving them the skills and confidence to become proficient gardeners)
• 2. Tackle issues around overgrown gardens (Supporting residents in need of a garden makeover through providing a free garden transformation with the volunteers we have trained).

For those needing help with regular maintenance, we can offer an affordable quote, and by residents taking up our services, they in-turn create employment for volunteers we have trained, and invest income back into supporting others with overgrown gardens.

The money we raise through the Aviva Community Fund will go directly to taking our transport to the next level! We want to invest into a new or 2nd hand van, trailer and tools to fill it with. This will expand our capacity by making us more mobile, more visible and more productive in transforming gardens all around the town.

This project successfully funded on 9th March 2020