Thank you to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and players of the National Lottery who support our project, Unlocking the Power of Communities. Through this project, we were able to use £500 of our budget for the Heritage Trust Network Conference 2021 to help one of our members in a carbon offsetting project. We are dedicated to sustainability and to reducing our carbon footprint. While it was fantastic for so many Network members to be able to travel from all over the UK to Coventry to attend the 2021 conference, we are aware of the impact this has on our carbon footprint as an organisation. There was also an impact from our online day through use of technology and online storage. This is why it is important to us to offset our carbon footprint in some way.
We put out an open call to all our members to give them the opportunity to benefit from this fund and we are delighted that we have been able to support Network member, Riverside Stourbridge with their project. Lloyd Stacey, Managing Director and Founder of Riverside Stourbridge spoke at the Heritage Trust Network Conference 2021 in Coventry and so we are delighted to be able to support the project in return.
Riverside Stourbridge is a community interest company with a social regeneration project, Riverside House. It is located at a derelict and neglected grade II listed 19th Century iron masters house and grounds. The site has been repurposed into a stunning Health & Wellbeing Centre. Riverside delivers meaningful, social activities through traditional crafts, the arts, ecology, heritage and food and nutrition. This makes a significant difference to the quality of lives for the diverse and inclusive community. Activities include anything from social prescribing, working with people with ASD and local schools and colleges. Over the next few years the organisation will be further developing its offer to the local community with a fabulous café, craft shop, art & craft workshops and arts events, welcoming everyone to this extraordinary place.
They have used the £500 funding to purchase and plant multiple young trees in oak barrel planters for their project. This will intentionally soften the landscape of the building and provide a space which can also aid wellbeing and add to nature.
Riverside will also have more fruit trees arriving this winter. They liaised with the Wildlife Trust to make sure they chose the right trees for the area.
Thank you to players of the National Lottery for making this funding possible through the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
