Dobbies’ Morpeth and Ponteland winners for national community initiative revealed

They include the Full Circle Food Project for the Morpeth store and St John Vianney Primary School for the Ponteland store.

More than 660 groups applied to Dobbies Community Gardens when it opened in March. Each Dobbies store selected their local project to support from the nominations that were made.

Nominated projects from Northumberland were invited along to the in-store Grow How sessions on May 4 when the winners were unveiled.

The Full Circle Food Project is a charity based in Ashington that aims to tackle food poverty by growing fresh produce in its allotment, providing cooking lessons for healthy meals on a budget and supplying the local food bank with fresh meals made from vegetables they grow.

The project plans to use Dobbies’ support to expand its allotment and offering with diverse food options, and create some more opportunities for people to learn, grow and connect over freshly grown produce.

St John Vianney Primary School in Newcastle is renewing and reviving the school’s Early Years garden area and plans to use Dobbies’ support to fill the area with plants to encourage pupils learning about nature.

The winners will receive a one-on-one session with Dobbies’ colleagues in their local stores to kick-start their activity and the teams will support the winning groups right the way through their projects.