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Oct 2024
Horticap gets two new large polytunnels
A Harrogate horticultural education charity is to get two new 56-foot polytunnels after securing a grant worth over £4,000.
Horticap provides opportunities for adults with learning and other disabilities to get hands-on training in activities such as garden maintenance, horticulture and crafts.
The charity previously had three polytunnels in its garden at Bluecoat Wood Nurseries, off Otley Road.
The tunnels were used by students for many years but recently became unusable.
A £4,821 grant from Banks Community Fund has now enabled Horticap to bring in the new, larger polytunnels.
The level of the ground on which they will sit is also being raised and new drainage put in place to address longstanding waterlogging problems.
The first new polytunnel is now in place, and the second one is set to follow. It is expected that they will come into use in the autumn.
Horticap currently assists about 55 adults with different disabilities, almost all of whom live across the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon area, and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Phil Airey, assistant manager at Horticap, said:
We use horticulture as an educational tool and provide a supportive and friendly working environment in which our students can develop their social and communication abilities.
The polytunnels have been an important part of this over the years, but they’d gone beyond the point of no return, and we’ve been looking at how we might replace them.
The new polytunnels provide better protection from both the sun and the snow, while the green mesh that covers them allows for air to circulate more freely than before, which provides both a better working and growing environment.
The extra height they offer will make them a more comfortable place for our students and staff to spend their time, while raising the ground level should resolve the waterlogging issues we’ve faced in the past.
This latest funding has allowed us to bring the new polytunnels in much more quickly than would otherwise have been possible and we’re very grateful for their continuing support.
Kate Culverhouse, community relations manager at the Banks Group, which set up the grants scheme, added:
Horticap makes a tremendous difference to the well-being of its students, with the personal skills they’re developing being useful to them through their whole lives.
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