Rebirth of the Refurb! Expanding our provision.

Aim

To ensure the Snapdragons project continues to thrive.To increase our provision & to continue our work developing the project and the venue

***Snapdragons Plymouth, Bringing Communities Together Through Nature***

A little bit about us and our project aims. 

Snapdragons, a volunteer-led community project, is based in Victoria Park, Plymouth and benefits inhabitants of the city and from the local surrounding area. 

Over the last 6 years we've worked tirelessly to make our vision a reality - to create a beautiful, nurturing space where many different communities come together to forge friendships, learn new skills, reconnect with nature (and each other) and to just BE.  By saying 'just be', we mean to spend time in the space without pressure, to enjoy the peace, to reconnect with themselves, the land  (and creatures) around them and with other people; to thrive and not just survive. 

We want to enable people to be climate change ready, to be part of healthy, thriving communities that have somewhere to turn when they are in need of connection, support and/or advice. 

Our world is changing - climate change is taking its toll on our planet and we need to find ways to 

* reduce harmful ways of living

* learn to live alongside the changes that climate change brings. 

* connect with each other, the land and its inhabitants in a way that nurtures the soul AND has a positive impact all round. To have somewhere to share our hope and our grief, to be heard and supported in this. 

Our journey so far...

At Snapdragons, we have turned a long-neglected site into a nature reserve - a haven for the more-than-human inhabitants, as well as the humans that frequent the land. We have created a beautiful wildlife pond, planted 500 saplings, left areas of the site to re-wild and more. As well as hosting our own events, we are used as a venue for permaculture courses, composting and food growing groups, workshops that show us all how to live a life more aligned to nature...how to reduce our waste, to repurpose items if we cannot fix them/use for their original intended purpose, to use traditional and holistic methods of creation and living etc.  3 out of 4 directors have now completed the Permaculture Design Course , as have a number of our volunteers, and we try to incorporate permaculture ethics and principles in everything we do. 

Those who have been following our journey from the start know that we've had many obstacles to overcome (ensuring the site is cleared of sharps, putting in a security fence, refurbishing buildings, bringing in over 1000 tons of clean topsoil and geocell/geotextile to remediate a soil contamination problem).  We are working hard to create a lasting impression in our local community, reviving a disused site, improving the biodiversity and making the area safe as well as beautiful and useful.  

Our groups/projects and collaborations with others

Plymouth Red Tent and its linked groups have regular sessions  for local women on the site, as does the Plymouth Green Man Circle for local men. Plymouth Woodcraft Folk run weekly sessions in term time for local children and the venue has been hired by other local organisations to run events, courses and workshops (children and adults - Big Sis, Tess Wilmot & Klaudia Van Gool with their annual 12 day Permaculture Design Course, Plymouth Tree People with their launch event for the Plymouth Urban Tree Festival and more). 

These groups have proven to be a real asset to the local community, with positive feedback regularly received and many attendees stating how they couldn't do without the support of the groups. 

Through our volunteer sessions, our seasonal events and our regular groups, we enable the improvement of both physical and mental health and wellbeing, providing a safe place to come and spend time together, to seek peer support, to be signposted to other services, to spend time in nature...all things that also improve the overall quality of life. 

By bringing people together, we help to tackle social isolation, creating a positive, respectful culture and a sense of belonging to the Snapdragons community.  We work hard to create spaces where voices are heard and empower people to make decisions, take action and make a difference.  

We enjoy holding seasonal events and we're always looking for ways to encourage more people to the project. In the Winter of 2024/2025 we were a Warm and Welcome Space for Plymouth City Council, where for 10 hours a week local residents could come and use our space to get warm, have a hot drink, spend time with others. We have applied to run this again for 25-26. 

We have also recently been awarded money from Great Western Railway and will be putting on a number of workshops for people to attend (history/heritage, arts and crafts, gardening, music etc) thanks to this funding as well as creating a resource library and signage for our fence that borders Victoria Park.  Our first workshop was on Sunday 14th September with Wren Music and we had a fantastic time together exploring the theme 'Railway Rhythms'. 

We have a number of subcommittees as well as our team of directors, with each subcommittee having a focus on a different aspect of the wider project. In the last 18m we've created a new website and now also have an effective system for using our community resource library. 

The cost of living increase, the lasting effects of the pandemic,  and the decrease in available funding have all had a negative effect on finance for projects like ours. We endeavour to keep our costs accessible for all and always offer hardship spaces for our events. Crowdfunders like this help us to continue these offerings but also to do the tasks that other funding doesn't really cover - the refurbishment work, capital costs, costs associated with leases and planning applications etc.  We are now in the position that we really need to refurbish our main building in order to expand our provision and grow the project further.  Those who have been to the site in person know how full that room is with amazing resources. To be able to do the refurb work, not only do we need money for the work itself but we need to be able to put the resources in to storage to create space for carrying out the refurbishment. 

So here we are, reaching out to our crowd, to make sure this project survives AND thrives.  We need your help to move our community project forwards, in line with our sustainable and nature-based ethos. 

What have we done since our last Crowdfunder? 

* carried out a tree survey to ensure all trees on site are in good, safe condition

* carried out an environmental survey as part of our planning application process (Biodiversity Net Gain Matrix, EMES etc)

* Created a Soil Remediation Report for the planning application (documenting 6 years of work across the site with annotated photos)

* installed and started using our amazing polytunnel - we've had a wonderful harvest of tomatoes and cucumbers this summer and we've enjoyed trialling some pea planting experiments with GoOrganic and Southampton University

* instructed new architects (Thank you Studio Skein!) and submitted our planning application for the next stages of the project (ongoing - fingers crossed for September please supporters!!!) We are especially excited that Studio Skein practise circular economy and have some great connections to limit waste with building materials etc. 

* bought a replacement parachute shelter

* created a new system for our parachute whereby it is much quicker and simpler to take down / put back up in stormy weather (thank you carabiner clips and bungees!)

* put up shelving in the office 

* had an energy efficiency survey done which gave us suggested steps for our refurb

* tiled the kitchen sink area and put up more shelving to house mugs and glasses for our volunteers and participants

* ran a Warm & Welcome space for 10 hours a week between 1st Dec 2024 and 31st March 2025

* tried some new events - family friendly seasonal gatherings - e.g.Samhain and Yule

* bought in more soil to create more food growing areas

* bought and planted new plants for the pond area 

* taken part in the Devon Wildlife Trust annual Bat Survey

* planted more hawthorn trees for hedging in the forest school area and 2 beautiful oak trees (grown from acorns from the famous Darley Oak!)

* enjoyed watching trees we've planted starting to fruit - sloes, acorns, hazels, rowanberries, hawthorn berries, rosehips, crab apples and more! 

* been hired as a venue for Permaculture Design Course, Big Sis,  Plymouth Urban Tree Festival (workshops and party), Plymouth Woodcraft Folk , local storytelling groups and more

* hosted events for Plymouth Red Tent, Plymouth Green Man Circle, Plymouth Sage Sisters, Circle of the Turning Wheel

* Hosted our annual Lantern Walk

* hosted regular Work Parties - volunteer gardening 

* Helped to set up the new Victoria Park Community Plymouth group & a local Clean Up UK hub

* Took part in the annual All Ways Apples event - a highlight of our year!

* established our Friends of Snapdragons Membership scheme

* established our Specialist Library using Libib

* received Plants from Crownhill Garden Centre to celebrate their 60th birthday

* held a large women only event to celebrate World Goddess Day - September 2024

* held workshops from our last crowdfunder - basket / brighid's cross weaving, yoga, breathwork, foraging etc

What do we want to do? (If you're able to help with any of these items, please do get in touch!)

* Continue the refurbishment of the buildings so that we can meet the welfare needs of people on site, plus hold more groups for more people. 

* pay for associated costs for our current planning application

* pay for associated costs with our new lease - we've been accepted for a much longer lease  (c25years!)

* Run our seasonal events & increase the scale/offerings

* Continue to subsidise hardship spaces to events by ensuring we have enough money coming in to cover  running costs

* Continue the creation of our dedicated areas : Forest School, Food growing, planting areas, re-wilding, wildlife pond, children's play area etc. 

* use local businesses wherever possible to carry out necessary works

* use local, sustainable materials wherever possible (and encourage re-use/recycle)

* develop skills of local people who are part of our Snapdragons community / the local community 

* run as a warm and welcome space for the winter of 2025-2026

* hold a large event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Plymouth Red Tent

* create more inside spaces on site that can be safely used by other groups hiring the space

* continue to educate our community on climate change - the effects of it, how to limit it, how to live with it etc. 

 Please see our website and our social media pages  for more information and pictures of what we get up to at Snapdragons. 

As always, thank you so much to our supporters - we could not do this without you and your support.   

This project successfully funded on 8th November 2025