2021 has been a year of milestones reached and memories made here at Newquay Orchard. We are so proud of our community who have continued to support one another, contributed to our urban greenspace, helped us grow like never before and celebrated the biodiversity that is becoming abundant in our corner of the world.
January
We remained together when apart through online activities. Our volunteering community took part in online yoga lessons, daily tea break photography shared by Darrin and Lisa and horticultural lessons from Hetty our Sustainable Landscapes Manager. Growing Futures students learnt online with interactive lessons, CV building workshops and lessons in cooking. Our beautiful outdoor space is why we have come together but our community showed a real strength in continuing together online.
February
The office team joined our landscaping team in planting over 250 trees in the space of a week. Kindly donated by the Urban Tree Challenge, species of trees planted included plum, elm and witch hazel, and will one day shelter the performance terraces providing a windbreak and creating stunning acoustics. We can’t wait to see what they look like in 20 years’ time!
March
The Kowel Gwenen community building opened to the community for the first time in March. The accessible path was completed simultaneously allowing everyone to access the space, which now includes our friends Canteen at the Orchard. Inviting people to share the Canteen team’s warming drinks and good food has led to more people discovering the Orchard and the vital support we can offer to the community.
April
Spring saw new beginnings as the Kowel Gwenen Co-workspace opened to freelancers, business owners and creatives. It is a business commune developing people and planet with purpose. Since opening, our members have enjoyed monthly motivational breakfasts – which have included an electric cargo bike demonstration and a herbalist workshop – and the odd monthly social too.
May
It’s not just horticulture that has thrived at Newquay Orchard. Our volunteers are a talented bunch; so much so that we wanted to showcase their artwork. Alongside local artist and award-winning illustrator Maia Walczak, we curated and hung the Newquay Orchard Art Exhibition on display in the space we share with Canteen at the Orchard. It’s been lovely to bring some art into the building and share our volunteers’ artistic skills.
June
It was a busy month with G7 in Cornwall. Global leaders from across the world descended on our county to carry out talks and we used this moment to highlight the importance of our immediate environment. With Newquay Tretherras students leading the way we planted 7 trees outside the school to represent each nation. The message went far and wide securing coverage in national news outlets and the young activists also sent a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This couldn’t have been done without the help of Ecosia, the international environmentally conscious search engine that plants trees for every internet search made, and Trees for Cities who are the only UK charity improving lives by planting trees in inner city areas.
July
The CSA Market Garden flourished into life in July and now provides our volunteers with food to take home after their sessions. It also supplies Canteen at the Orchard with varieties of veg they can’t get from the wholesaler so easily. This relationship between land, growers and chefs has made it possible to grow good food for our community in a way that promotes our biodiversity. After the pilot scheme we were delighted to announce over 1 ton of produce was harvested in the 3-month period. It’s been so successful that we’re expanding the operation to land near St Columb Major and giving our community the chance to invest. Sign up to our e-news to find out more about the Newquay Orchard Veg Box in the new year.
August
Miracle Theatre took to our new performance terraces in the balmy August sunshine and delighted audiences with Starcrazy. The event was a sell out success and the inaugural performance on our lawn terraces has proven beyond a doubt what a phenomenal entertainment space the Orchard offers; especially beautiful when the festoon lights are on. Keep an eye on our events page for what’s to come next year.
September
It was a new school year for our Growing Futures students in September. After a fun summer holidays, the young adults and the education team were happy to be back together learning and growing. Since the start of term students have achieved exam results to be proud of and broke ground helping to develop our Market Garden.
October
Our very own European Social Funded Sustainable Lives programme reached a milestone in October, helping 130 unemployed or economically inactive people access the support they need – 6 months ahead of the original target of April 2022. This is indicative of the need for support provided by organisations like Newquay Orchard, the hard work and passion of our dedicated team and our volunteers.
The Orchard also hosted 60 visitors form the Cornwall Social Prescribers network in October. The aim was to showcase to local primary care networks how social prescribing in an outdoor setting can benefit people’s mental health, improve our environment and take pressure off of the NHS. The Eden Project, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Battling On, CHAOS Farm, Nature Connects and Volunteer Cornwall are all partners on the initiative and conducted engaging workshops during the day.
November
The new Kreft Maker Space, Volunteer Hub and Classroom buildings are nearing completion. The classrooms will be used by our students and volunteers for places to learn. The volunteer hub is a place to share tea and talk with your peers. The Kreft Maker Space is a brand-new addition to the community for volunteers, creatives and visionaries – and one you’ll learn more about in the new year. We also hosted the first ever TEDxNewquay in November, once again proving how our multifunctional space can be a platform for inspiration and entertainment in equal measure.
December
We won! Our team attended the Cornwall Sustainability Award in December and brought home the Growing Greener award which highlights the hard work of our volunteers and staff; we couldn’t have done it without you so THANK YOU! We also won the Green Flag award once again – another accolade for our wonderful volunteering team who have turned this space into the invaluable space it has become.
As we round up the year, we’re looking forward to meeting more likeminded community organisations, working on developing our provision for growing produce and launching more environmental initiatives that will help local people and our wildlife.
We’d like to take this opportunity again to thank our wonderful visitors, volunteers and education students for the part they’ve played in the Orchard’s story so far.
Follow us on social media to see what we get up to in the meantime and subscribe to our e-news to hear more from us as we grow.
See you in 2022!