Development

Allotment

In July the Foundation acquired three allotment plots on Stacey Hill Allotment site in Wolverton and employed an Allotment Co-Ordinator to oversee the development of this new project.

Since then, the trainees and Heather have been busy! They have planted raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, a blackcurrant bush, hazel, some hardy vegetables, some quick maturing vegetables and a herb garden. They have also built a 33 ft polytunnel and a shed to store tools in.

Currently the team are developing a water conservation and irrigation system for the polytunnel and sowing some early seedlings to be planted out when it is ready.

In the future MKCF hope that the allotment will provide fresh vegetables, herbs and soft fruit for Eating Point (The Foundation's vegetarian café). There are also plans to grow cut flowers to be sold at Wolverton Market, with a whole host of other country craft items that trainees have been making on rainy days. The Allotment is a valuable placement where MKCF service users can learn practical gardening skills and gain experience in working as part of a team. The vegetable garden has provided a link between MKCF environment projects and MKCF healthy eating projects and when established could be used for educational visits and open days, as well as a being a source of wholesome and healthy food. One of our objectives is to make the project as sustainable as possible through our link with Wolverton Market and other social enterprises.

It is hoped that in the future, new projects linked to the allotment will develop providing more varied and interesting placements for trainees. These could be other gardening assignments, environmental projects or tasks related to creating and marketing our products. One such example of this is the plans for a Straw Bale Building on Stacey Hill that MKCF have been working on with Wolverton Unlimited. If funding can be obtained, the trainees will work with a qualified person to construct a sustainable, low impact dwelling for allotment holders and visitors.

The Straw Bale Building Project and the Market are two examples of how the Foundation Allotment has strengthened our links with the local community and has helped MKCF service users to feel more connected to the place where they live and work.

Recycling

Wording to follow

Up the Wall

Wording to follow

Foundation Nursery

1. Extending our Services

In order to extend the services we offer our young parents and to the wider community, the Foundation has resolved to expand its childcare facilities through the establishment of a nursery. The overall aim is to achieve the following outcomes:

2. Addressing Key Issues

The provision of childcare is a key element in our efforts to meet our targets to support and encourage young parents back into education or employment. It should also contribute to the local authority's and the Government's agenda to increase the number of affordable childcare places, both locally and nationally.

It is a first step in our longer-term objectives to provide a more extensive range of services to children and families through the establishment of after-school and holiday play-schemes for school age children.

3. Our Plans

We are committed to the phased development of a 30 place nursery open from 8.00am to 6.00pm over the next 2 to 3 years. It will provide places for children from birth to school age and will be staffed and equipped to the highest possible standards in line with Ofsted regulations. The nursery will serve all children and parents, irrespective of race, ethnic origin, religion, socio-economic situation, and disability. It will operate a sliding scale of charges, based on parents' ability to pay and will provide a number of subsidised and/or free places.

At the moment the project is just at the planning stage, but we will keep you up to date with our progress on this website.

Credit Union

The Foundation's commitment to economic justice has led us to play a key role in the development of a Credit Union for Milton Keynes. Many people cannot obtain credit from High Street banks or other lending institutions. Some of them are paying anything up to 400% interest on loans and are trapped for years into loan repayments for what started off as a relatively small debt. Credit Unions offer an alternative, socially responsible service for lenders and borrowers alike. Milton Keynes Credit Union is being established as a financial co-operative, which will be wholly owned and run by its members. The Credit Union encourages members to save thereby creating a fund from which loans can be made, so money saved benefits the local community. Once members have been saving for thirteen weeks they are eligible for a loan of up to three times their savings. A fixed rate of interest of 1% per month is applied, so if a member borrows £100 and repays over a year, they would only pay £6.50 in interest charges.

Through this scheme we hope to give local people, particularly those on low-income, including some of our own trainees and residents, a genuine community-based alternative to the financial institutions and the high-cost money lenders. The steering group, bringing together representatives of the Co-operative movement, the Churches and the voluntary sector, has undertaken training, produced a Business Plan and Policy Manual and submitted an application for registration as a Credit Union through the Financial Services Authority. If successful it is hoped to launch the Credit Union in the autumn.

If you want to know more about the Credit Union, you can contact the Secretary, Graham Ghaleb, on 01908-525086.

We will keep you informed of progress on this website. Details of how to become a member of the Credit Union will be posted here following registration with the Financial Services Authority.