NEWS
Students see roots of friendship grow between the gardening generations
Students are growing their gardening skills and improving community relations with the help of a local allotment.
Pruning, weeding and planting are new skills being picked up by members of the Students’ Union in Lancaster after local residents and the City Council offered up a plot of land for them to work on. The allotment plot on Cork Road was offered to the students after they organised and volunteered on a community IT project with the residents in the Bowerham area and expressed an interest in gardening.
Joan Houghton, 65, secretary of Cork Road Allotment Association said: “We were more than happy to offer the plot to the students after they showed such enthusiasm for gardening and growing their own produce. It’s good to have some youngsters on the site and we are more than happy to offer up our expertise.
“The other allotment owners have been sharing tools and seeds and helping the students with the learning experience. We have seen a group of them up at the plot reading up on vegetables and really working hard to make it a success.”
The students are now using the experience to break down misconceptions about their age group, proving to the locals that their perception of students is not always accurate. And after five months, they are seeing the seeds of their hard work grow into potatoes, onions and tomatoes.
Ethical and Environmental Rep Matt Tennant, 21, said: “We are delighted with the project so far, and the vegetables we have grown have been just one of the benefits we are seeing.
“A lot of people think students are lazy or trouble makers or just time wasters, but this project is really breaking down the barriers. People can see how hard working we are and also the time and effort that we have put in to get our plot up to scratch. As well, we are all finding the tasks very rewarding, learning new skills and growing food instead of purchasing it in packaging from the shop.”
The students who choose to give up their time to work on the plot can accumulate their hours to receive a certificate of volunteering recognition at the end of the year from the Students’ Union, a great addition to their CV when they start to apply for jobs in their chosen career.
And most importantly, old and young are forging friendships through their hobby, with some of the experienced gardeners offering up blackcurrant bushes and fixing broken tools for the younger generation.
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