Sustainable Communities
Publish Date: Thursday, 05 April 2007
Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council received an award last week recognising its achievements in developing healthy sustainable communities through the South Tyrone Community & Schools Food Gardens Project.
The Project, which was launched in September 2002 and ran in two phases until the end of July 2006, has been an innovative partnership funded under the European PEACE II Programme to provide a practical solution to the problem of food poverty in the area and to increase local production, consumption and knowledge of sustainable, healthy food.
Mayor Jim Hamilton of Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council, which has been leading the 4 year pilot scheme in co-operation with the Dungannon & Armagh Health Action Zone and the South Tyrone Area Partnership LSP, had great pleasure in receiving the award:
"The event was the only one in which a Northern Ireland Council achieved success. This adds to the previous recognition of our work on sustainable development including Green Apple and EU commendations. Again this demonstrates innovation and forward thinking on the part of this Council and puts Dungannon at the forefront of sustainable development."
Through the project, there were six community/school led, organic, fruit and vegetable gardens established at Howard PS Moygashel, Aughnacloy PS, St Joseph's High School Coalisland, An Tearmann Early Years Project, Breakthru Dungannon/Laghey Primary School, Killyman, and Parkanaur College, Dungannon.
The gardens are all based on environmentally friendly production, community ownership and partnership working. Those participating benefited from increased levels of practical horticultural skills, environmental awareness, and high degrees of enthusiasm for the project from all groups involved, resulting in improved access to fresh and healthy food and increased consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.
All of the six groups, which included the active participation of over 200 children and 20 adults managed to produce, harvest and eat a number of different vegetable and fruit varieties. The harvest included potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beans, peas, courgettes, peppers, lettuces, radishes, cabbages, beetroot, strawberries, raspberries and even some melons. The participating children were able to taste/eat vegetables and fruit that in many cases were new to them. For example an Tearmann used the produce grown in their daily snacks; Breakthru and Howard PS divided the harvest for children to take home, Aughnacloy PS cooked a meal, used their own produce in their after school cookery club and for their harvest service. They were also able to sell surplus produce through a local shop and raised about £1000 for charity at one of the school's harvest service events.
Yvonne Zellmann, Council's LA21 Officer, commends the long term benefits of the project:
"In addition to achieving this award, those involved have increased their awareness of health and healthy eating leading to an increase of fruit and vegetable consumption and with that hopefully longer term health benefits. Another long term achievement which is hard to measure but nevertheless of prime importance is the great sense of achievement and pride in the school grounds that children and wider school community gained from the scheme."
