We need a New Marquee! (and Covid -19 recovery)

Aim

We would love to replace our well loved marquee with a fantastic new all year structure with heating lighting and a floor (& Covid recovery)

3 years ago, Kate, Mike and Michi had a vision to turn an empty bowling green into an amazing Community Garden, we gave up our jobs, fundraised, dug, sowed, laughed and cried. Working with our passionate team of staff and volunteers we have achieved so much. We are often told what an asset RCG is to the community and we feel hugely supported by you. The past year has been tough but we have worked tremendously hard to survive and are now asking for your help to continue to "grow"!

RCG currently has a second hand marquee which we have been using for the past 3 years for events, workshops, seating area, and for shade and rain protection. 

We estimate over 10,000 people visited the Garden last year and we partnered with over 20 organisations including educational establishments, community groups and charities to provide fun, fulfilling and educational workshops and experiences for children and adults. 

These include: children’s messy play, children's craft and adult therapy art workshops, adult mindfulness, storytelling, gardening workshops, yoga, preschool sessions. The marquee was also hired for over 70 parties and events and provides seating area for our café. Many of these activities raise revenue for the project which we can reinvest in new ideas. 

Here is a link to the video of its glory (and not so glorious) days...(need to copy link into browser)

https://www.facebook.com/redcatchcommunitygarden/videos/1949380762034208/

The marquee is in a very poor state and has been repaired many times at cost and time to the project. (see below)

We have fantastic support and demand for the use of the existing structure and even more so a new structure from existing and new partners. A new structure would allow us to increase the number, type of activities and most importantly that these could continue throughout the year. This is very important as it would give continuity to relationships, learning and revenue both for RCG and the companies we support. We secured planning permission and have consulted with many of our partners about the design and use of a new structure and we know from community research and evidence provided by local groups, churches, education establishments and community health there is a demand in our areas for the services we offer, particularly those around physical and mental health, even more so in Covid 19. 

With the money raised we plan to build a fantastic new marquee structure and have completed extensive research to identify a new structure to meet our community's needs and fit with our values and criteria including sustainability, durability, accessibility and value for money.

We have a funding bid in with a large funder to meet some of the cost, with their support we could be enjoying a new marquee soon!

This project successfully funded on 26th September 2020