Sustainability begins with a single person reaching their full potential

Jack Copeland | 17th January 2018

Groundwork

Manchester based eco-charity, Groundwork MSSTT, is helping create green city spaces, boost employment, and save people money on their energy bills. Viva magazine spent a morning at Trafford Ecology Park learning about integrating ex-offenders, rehabilitating veterans, and Green Doctors.

It’s no secret that the urban lifestyle is not necessarily a healthy one and, with more development projects gracing Mancunian streets, it looks as though the colour green will have an increasingly minor role in the mosaic that is Greater Manchester.

Quietly working in the shadows of our metropolitan existence, however, there are environmentalists who, between 2015 and 2016, improved 2,642,000m2 of land with the support of 2,957 days of volunteering.

Groundwork Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, and Trafford (Groundwork MSSTT) is an ecological organisation which brings people and the environment together through practical local action.

One of their aims being to create better, greener places which they achieve through services such as landscape designing, green space management, and the Blue Sky programme.

The Blue Sky programme is a brand of work that Groundwork MSSTT does which hires ex-offenders to carry out grounds maintenance, fencing, and landscape construction jobs as a means of benefiting local areas whilst also helping to re-integrate them.

In fact 47 per cent of those who have moved on from Blue Sky have gone into permanent employment, while only a mere 15 per cent have re-offended whereas the national average is 60 per cent.

https://youtu.be/idEaZPdE6jo

The Executive Director for Groundwork MSSTT, Michael Ormerod, said: “It is not about us being at the sharp end of environmental campaigning, ‘naming and shaming’ companies or individuals who do not live up to the best of standards.

“For us, sustainability begins with a single person reaching their full potential.”

What’s more, Groundwork MSSTT also aims to improve people’s prospects through various employment initiatives like the Operation Re-Org programme, yet another brand of work which helps military veterans find permanent jobs.

Funded by The Royal British Legion and organised by veteran Terry Morley, Operation Re-Org puts ex-military veterans on six month work placements, with intensive one-on-one mentoring to develop useful skills and aid mental health.

The final aim of Groundwork MSSTT is to promote greener living and working which is accomplished through the Green Doctor scheme.

Green Doctors are independent, impartial domestic energy experts who help families to live more comfortably, reduce their carbon footprint, and cut the cost of bills.

According to government statistics, 17 per cent of British households (4.5 million homes) are currently living in fuel poverty, making it then the purpose of the Green Doctors to help these vulnerable homeowners in managing energy bills.

And throughout just one year the Green Doctor scheme supported more than 450 homes, and highlighted average annual cost savings of £284 per household.

The Groundwork foundation has been organising these types of schemes since 1982 and has its regional base at Trafford Ecology Park, a registered Site of Biological Importance (SBI), where the 11 acre wildlife haven plays host to protected species.

So, the next time that you are plodding along the colourless city streets, take a detour to Trafford Ecology Park and show some support to the people who are committed to making our soot-stained existence a little bit brighter.

For more details visit groundwork.org.uk

Groundwork Urmston in Bloom

https://youtu.be/5PIRD_PFigI