A WORCESTERSHIRE charity which provides rural farm training has moved to a new home.
Wildgoose Rural Training, this year celebrating its 20th anniversary, provides opportunities for people interested in working with the land and animals.
The charity, that works with young people who find school a challenge and adults with learning difficulties, brain injuries and mental health issues, has now completed a £500,000 relocation to a new site near Hallow.
The social enterprise secured £85,000 from the Resonance West Midlands Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) fund to make the move possible.
The relocation to Old Quarry Drive, Main Road, means Wildgoose will now be able to support 150 people every year. The Board of Trustees and the staff of the charity are also hoping the additional 36 acres can be used to support more students in developing skills for independent living, learning valuable trades and future voluntary and employability skills.
Jim Hidderley, from Wildgoose Rural Training, said: “We are delighted to be in our new home and have lots of exciting plans to help more students, whilst building new relationships with the general public and businesses who want to get involved in the work that we do.
“This was only achieved thanks to the support of a range of organisations and investors that recognised the potential of the project and now means we have a great opportunity to have an even bigger positive impact on our local community. The final piece of the jigsaw was the £85,000 from the fund, which gave us the opportunity to complete the project and build a modular hub on site.
“The latter will be a fantastic new facility where we can continue to run our training kitchen, whilst also hosting a visitor and education centre so we can engage with more local schools and the general public. It will also give us a place where we can showcase some of the great horticulture projects, craft skills and care farm work we take part in.”
Grace England, from Resonance, added: “Wildgoose Rural Training is a great social enterprise that offers an amazing service - it has the potential to do so much more for people that need specialist support, but the previous site had reached maximum capacity.
“The move is a brilliant opportunity to grow the business and its social impact. We’re delighted that the Resonance West Midlands SITR Fund could offer the final £85,000 that was needed to make such a significant project possible.”
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