Curo’s Bath Foyer gets the ‘groundforce’ treatment thanks to M&S bright sparks

By Anita Jaynes on 5 July, 2017

The Curo Bath Foyer, a supported housing scheme for young people in Bath, has received a garden makeover thanks to volunteers from Marks & Spencer’s Spark Something Good initiative.

A team of 12 volunteers spent a day with residents and colleagues at the Bath Foyer in Twerton – revamping the outside space, painting the Foyer’s bike shed, building planters and clearing a courtyard garden to make space for a vegetable patch.

Spark Something Good is a national initiative from Marks & Spencer (M&S) which sees employees and customers getting together to transform community projects.

Curo Training & Development Coordinator Clare Birch said: “M&S approached us and asked if they could do something at one of our sites. We talked with residents who told us they’d like to see some colour in the garden borders and were also interested in growing their own food in the future.

“The volunteers were super-keen and quite a few were experienced gardeners, so they helped us decide which plants should go where. Everyone had a lot of fun, and the resulting transformation has received lots of positive comments from the residents.

“The Spark Something Good offer included a gift of £500 from M&S via the Charities Aid Foundation which we used to buy plants from local garden centre Hilliers who also kindly donated some compost to help stretch our budget.”

Curo’s Bath Foyer has an ongoing relationship with M&S who donate surplus, in-date food which residents get together to cook into healthy meals each week.

Many young people come to the Curo Bath Foyer due to family break up, or have been ‘sofa surfing’ with friends for some time. As well as providing a safe place to stay, residents get support to live independently. Through Curo’s Working Well programme Curo runs activities, designed with young people, to help them improve their wellbeing and employability through coaching in cooking, employment goals, gaining qualifications and money management.

Anyone interested in finding out more about Working Well, which is available to young people across Bath & North East Somerset, can call Curo on 01225 366000 or visit their website:

www.curo-group.co.uk/workingwell