Our Stories – Up the Garden Bath
With entries open, we wanted to give you a story of a community that has entered the GRO YOUR BEST competition. Up the garden Bath is a new exciting Community Interest company in Peterborough, and a first time entrant to Cultivation Street. It was established in Autumn 2019 and has done nothing but go from strength to strength since
What do they do?
They take old unwanted and often fly tipped bathtubs and upcycle them into garden planters. They are also recycling experts and can turn most things into a garden orientated item. Dave Poulton, founder said, ‘Pretty much anything and everything can play a role in growing plants, you just have to have the creativity and imagination’. Their recycled, raised and contained planters are ideal for any garden space, be it in a residential care home, community centre but especially in schools and are a real alternative to costly raised growing areas.
Why a Bath?
Bathtubs are often fly tipped as the cost of disposal can be costly, they are notoriously hard to recycle and usually end up in landfills or have to be broken up into smaller pieces using heavy machinery and the incinerated in industrial furnaces. Up the garden bath are doing their bit for the environment by recycling, reducing landfill and reviving, repurposing and reusing.
Community
Up the garden bath take their projects into schools have formulated some fun and educational ‘Look and Learn’ workshops. Targeting mainly EYFS, KS1 and KS2 students, they teach them about self sufficiency, healthy eating, nature, wildlife and the importance of recycling. They use their upcycled bath planters which take the form of a mini allotment, including rich and recycled organic soil and established plants. They also have a pollen paradise, which has been specifically designed to help sustain and encourage wildlife and is decorated to resemble a giant bumble bee.
Who Helps
Most of their products are produced by individuals who find themselves unable ot access mainstream employment due to a number of reasons. This could due to disability, addiction issues or mental health problems. Dave knows only too well how frustrating it can be to feel you no employment value which is why his hard work and dedication to help others in the same position is such an inspiration. They are aiming to establish a mentoring scheme in the near future that will pair up teenagers who have left school and with limited qualifications, with mature and skilling individuals. The aim will be to teach them new skills so that they can then use those skills to gain further employment and increase their opportunities in life.
Enter your community or school garden today for Cultivation Street 2020 we cant wait to see more stories like Dave’s.
