Greenfield Park, a centre providing support for adults with a learning disability to develop work-based skills has become an exemplar of circular economy and skill building. A tour of the centre by Sara Harper, Day Services Manager, showed an amazing commitment to sustainability with activities from growing, recycling, reusing, repurposing and reducing waste.
Part of Manx Care, Greenfield hosts up to 60 service users, with the Day Service composed of an industrial workshop, weaving centre, garden centre, shop, and café as well as a supported employment service. Sara and her team focus on meeting each service user’s needs, maximising their own abilities, skills and unique potential while aiming to minimise any barriers to work and employment by using a person-centred philosophy of care and planning.
Teaching how to reuse and repurpose
Inside, the industrial workshop is split into 3 areas; the woodwork, metal, and craft room, each equipped with tools and equipment which the service users can learn how to use safely and develop skills supported by the specialist staff team.
Service users are given responsibilities in woodwork such as chopping, sanding, screwing, and painting creating signs, birdhouses, and decorative pieces to tables, shelves and firewood using only recycled wood which is gifted to Greenfield.
In a metal zone, users work to crush tins and break up old Zimmer frames! This goes to Costain's metal merchants and is recycled.
In the weaving workshop, service users create colourful high-quality rugs using recycled Manx sheep's wool, transforming wool from raw material to a workable yarn. The weave room has a vast range of tabletop looms upright looms amongst specialist equipment which are all accessible.
Boosting biodiversity and sow, grow and supply
Outside, you find the garden centre with 4 polytunnels, chickens and sensory activities. The polytunnels are full of delicious fruit and vegetables, and gorgeous flowers. The team works tirelessly to deliver fruit, vegetables, and flowers at low prices to the community. For £2, visitors can fill a bag with produce from the polytunnel.
This garden centre provides an opportunity to learn and develop new skills and all service users are encouraged to be actively involved at each level of running the service as much as possible.
A customer bring-back scheme for flower and plant pots is encouraged and washed, repotted, and put back on the shelf for the next customer. Bug hotels, have been built and filled with lots of recycled or organic materials.
Lifelong future skills
There is an onsite shop too for service users to work within a retail environment. They assist in keeping the shop tidy and help with displaying and selling items produced from the workshop, the garden centre and the weave room
Finally, Greenfield Park Cafe allows service users to work in the cafe, where they create menus from produce grown in the on-site polytunnels.
How does this help our climate goals?
Greenfield has a strong dedication to sustainability providing a welcoming centre for hands-on learning not just for key life skills but fully circular practices, values they themselves maintain in the running of the centre. They manage and reuse recycled waste, boost biodiversity, upskill local people and directly benefit the local community, providing access to more sustainable gifts and wares and locally grown and nutritious foods.
WHERE IS IT?
The Day Service is situated in Braddan.
Greenfield Park, Strang, Braddan, IM4 4TE.
Tel: 698327/642965
The opening hours are currently Monday to Friday 08.30-16.00 for the garden centre, the industrial workshop and the weaving centre.
Monday to Friday 9.30-14.30 for the shop, Monday to Friday 10.00-14.30 café and kitchen.
The Supported Employment service is an outreach service that provides support to people looking to gain employment based on the individual’s needs.