Supporting Our Community 2024
We wanted to send out a big thank you to our customers for all your support throughout 2024. It's been another busy and exciting year at Riverside - and it's been a pleasure as always helping our customers to shape and tend their gardens big and small, and to play a part in the life of our local community.
We are proud to have donated to over 50 different community organisations and projects throughout 2024 - including schools, therapy gardens, gardens for hospital patients and community gardens. We donated thousands of plants, litres of compost and an abundance of seeds and even a water butt to help growing spaces all over Bristol to blossom.
We love it when we recieve photos of updates with how our donations are growing!
Here a few of the projects we were involved in over 2024:
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Hillcrest Primary School
Riverside donated a water butt to help the students of the School Grounds Committee keep their wildlife garden thriving!
from Hillcrest's News Mailbag
"A massive THANK YOU to Riverside Garden Centre, who have given Hillcrest an incredibly generous gift. We contacted local garden centres to ask if they would consider donating a water
butt. Riverside have come up trumps with a handsome, top-of-the-range (RRP £470!), slimline, 350 litre one that really enhances our pollinator garden. We are bowled over!
Here's a picture of Richard and Beth from Riverside when they came to deliver it, with three representatives from our School Grounds Committee and Mrs Lamb (who supports the committee). They were very impressed with the planting in our garden! The butt is in position now, backing onto the chickens, under the tree, and it looks super smart.
No more lugging heavy watering cans across the playground!"
They also got back in touch with us to share the exciting news that Hillcrest won a Royal Horticultural Society 'In Your Neighbourhood' award for their beautiful pollinator garden!
"The children planted up the garden this spring with plants and support from the wonderful RCG team, and the new water butt donated by Riverside Garden Centre has really helped us to keep it watered and thriving!
Elsie from Yr 3 accepted the award from the Lord Mayor, on behalf of last year's Grounds Team, at a ceremony held at Redcatch Community Garden. What an exciting day!
We are very proud of our achievements!"
Congratulations Hillcrest!
Bristol Tree Craft (left)
Riverside donated a variety of plants and compost to help make their Wellbeing Garden and Workshop Space restful and inspiring.
Bristol Tree Craft is an organisation that brings people together to learn the heritage craft of green woodwork. Gain tangible skills, grow confidence and feel increased ownership over local green spaces.They offer workshops and free programmes, with a key focus to work with specific groups experiencing marginalisation by society.
Bristol Animal Rescue Centre (right)
Our mission is to provide compassionate care and respect to animals in need within the Bristol & District Branch area.
“They have certainly made the space look better already and we are excited to see how they will get on when fully in the garden bed.“
The Year 1 Class at Sefton Park Primary School (left)
wanted to learn how to grow their own veg. Riverside donated compost and plug plants to help them fill their beds
“The first crop of radishes has already been eaten! We are looking forward to strawberries soon and to harvesting some the lettuces next week.”
FareShare community garden (right)
We were pleased to donate a selection of sensory plants and compost to the community garden at FareShare for thier young persons programme (FareChance).
FareShare South West is a food distribution charity with a social and environmental purpose, taking good quality in-date food destined for landfill to over 400 organisations across the south west including schools, charities and food banks. We run our operation from three distribution warehouses based in Bristol city centre, Bedminster and Plymouth.
Griffiths House, a residential dementia home (left)
The residents spent time in the garden planting their new sensory plants to enjoy in the sunny weather. Riverside also donated compost and soil imporver to help them thrive.
BS3 Jammin' Community Harvest (right)
had a potting table at their event, which we donated seeds and compost to for them to hand out to BS3 residents
BS3 Jammin' is a community event that brings together residents of Bristol's BS3 area to donate their surplus homegrown fruits and vegetables. Volunteer chefs then cook, preserve, and process this donated produce with the assistance of members of the public, throughout the weekend.People can purchase the prepared produce by donating any amount they wish. The proceeds go to the BS3 Community Food Bank where the money goes towards making healthy recipe kits which include using locally-grown foods, to households in need.
Beyond food donations, we want to teach people simple ways to cook wholesome meals from local produce and learn how to preserve seasonal fruits and vegetables. Interactive activities like apple pressing, composting demonstrations, and cooking competitions get attendees hands-on while educating them about reducing food waste, sustainable urban growing, and healthy eating.
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The Beehive Centre Community Garden Club (left)
We recieved some lovely photos from the community garden club filling their beds with sensory plants and fresh compost.
The Beehive Centre is a fully accessible community hub and meeting place. We aim to reduce social isolation and loneliness in the community, by offering a wide range of activities that promote health and wellbeing- like a weekly gardening club in our community garden and out in St. George Park.
Bristol Heart Institute Cardiology Ward Staff & Patient Gardens (right)
were updating their roof gardens to create a calming space for patients and staff
We provided sensory and easy-to-care for plants which the patients planted back in the summer.
Big Tidy Project
run by Bristol City Council and Bristol Waste
The team at the Big Tidy Project have been helping to clear the overgrown gardens of elderly and disabled residents in council owned housing. To replenish the vegetation in these gardens and add colour, Riverside donated wildflower seeds to the residents to scatter.
