This year, Bath City Farm turns 25, but with the events of 2020, securing the funding we need to reach our 26th anniversary is now hugely challenging. We need your help to support your local city farm, so we are launching a public appeal to raise £50,000 by our 25th anniversary, which is the 12th October 2020.
Through a passionate group of people coming together to turn a disused green space in Twerton into a thriving farm to benefit the community, Bath City Farm officially became a charity in 1995.\
Our work as a charity focuses on providing education, conserving the environment and supporting people who have enduring mental health issues, are living with disabilities or are otherwise facing adversity. In total we run 10 projects, reaching a wide and diverse range of needs in the community. Some examples of our projects are:
- Branching Out – a skills and wellbeing project for young adults struggling in mainstream education, providing the opportunity to learn about animal care & horticulture in a supportive and dynamic environment.
- Feathered Friends – a project for people with dementia, bringing together elderly residents of the community experiencing isolation to enjoy tea & cake and have a cuddle with our friendly chickens.
- Family Feasts – A weekly session for families in the local area to find support, while cooking healthy meals together and taking part in fun farm activities.
- Training at the Trough – a catering skills project for adults with additional needs, where they learn to prepare high quality dishes and gain skills in customer service through supported placements in our little cafe, The Trough.
- Get Growing Mental Health Programme – Our largest project, working with adults with enduring mental health issues. This project runs two days a week, providing structure, socialising and a safe environment for people to receive the therapeutic benefits of caring for animals and gardening.
With our projects suspended, we are concerned about the impact this will have on the people who use our service. Within two days of lockdown measures being announced, we had made a plan to undertake new challenges to help people in any way that we could. We began a weekly live-stream of our animal feedings so that those staying at home could stay connected to nature, and feel less anxious about how our animals were getting on in their absence. We also set up a meals-on-wheels project to help members of our community struggling to access healthy meals during the lockdown.
With the farm gates closed to the public, income such as venue hire, birthday parties and events have all been cancelled, and we have seen a huge loss in the income that we rely on to keep the farm going.
We began this year planning the celebration of our 25th anniversary, and yet just a few months later, we are faced with the possibility that we will not reach our 26th. It is for this reason that we are appealing to the public to help us to raise vital funds for Bath City Farm.
Any contribution, big or small, will allow us to continue our work with vulnerable people, to provide for the animals and to remain a free and welcoming green space for all.
Please donate at our Go Fund Me page