Things have been really busy for us recently on the An Even Better Arbourthorne project! We love working with the outstanding Arbourthorne Community Primary School every week; meeting new and old families at the school, working with the brilliant staff team and utilising the wonderful space and opportunities the school has to offer.
Our first stop is the Community Fridge, which is going from strength to strength every week. The Community Fridge saves on average 500KG of surplus food from going to waste every week and is run by an incredible team of 10 volunteers, without whom, we couldn’t save nearly as much food as we do! The families in Arbourthorne are extremely passionate about saving surplus food from going to waste and we love working with the children to develop the fridge and our ethos on reducing food waste! Feeding 75 families every week is a tremendous effort achieved by all that dedicate their time to the fridge. As well as working with quite a number of supermarkets and Fareshare Yorkshire, we also supplement the Community Fridge offer with home-grown produce over from the school’s growing area, known as Our Healthy Hideout.
Our Healthy Hideout is a space for families and children to plant, grow, play and enjoy quality down time together. With a polytunnel to grow and nurture fruit and vegetables, an outdoor classroom that includes a fully functioning kitchen and an exciting fire pit Our Healthy Hideout has transformed part of the school field into something magical and a space that children and their families can use for years to come.
We have an awesome team of Tree Champions at the school that is made up of passionate Y5 children who love being outdoors and making a difference. Over the past year, they have helped plant an orchard and a tremendous number of other trees. They have dedicated so much time and energy to the green area; we couldn’t be any more thankful of all their hard work and they are absolutely a credit to the school.
The volunteers, staff, partners and organisations that support An Even Better Arbourthorne are the reason that the project thrives and has reached as many people as it has. Every single volunteer that started their journey at the school has expanded their skills and knowledge and shared their own learnings with others. Whether they have inspired members to join the Community Fridge, started their own Slow Cooker Library initiative, set up and run a successful Book Club or simply got themselves out of their house and given their time to help someone else, Growtheatre feels extremely fortunate to have been given this amazing opportunity and we love every minute of it.
“Just wanted to say that it was a really nice surprise to see you speaking on the Food Ethics Council webinar yesterday. I really enjoyed hearing about the new developments at An Even Better Arbourthorne, the polytunnel and fire pit sound really exciting! I’m also really glad the project is getting the recognition it deserves, what an amazing part of the community it as and how lucky are we to live in a city where there is so much fab work going on with food!”
Eimer Brown, Fareshare Yorkshire
