Soil donation will help our Reparations service to flourish

Amey, an infrastructure support service provider, have generously provided 10 tonnes of soil conditioner (made from local garden and kitchen waste) to our reparations service. Amey help to maintain the UK’s road and rail infrastructure, keep schools safe and prisons & courts secure. They also collect and process waste, as well as deliver utilities services.

This soil conditioner donation helps us to improve allotments & gardens in Cambridge, Peterborough and Huntingdon that our team currently manage and work on.

We deliver reparation services on behalf of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Youth Offending service for young people aged 11-18. All projects are designed to get the young people actively taking part in growing and harvesting food. Many of these people who engage with the project have never grown anything before and working in this environment gives them a positive experience and a new perspective which can help to prevent reoffending in the future.

To begin with, the soil will be used at our Cambridge allotment. It’ll predominantly be used as a mulch for the first year and will be spread nice and thick to block out the light from dying weeds underneath the cardboard. We are now in the process of building compost bays and once completed we will use one to store the Amey soil improver for a few months at least. This is to complete the maturation process. After it is fully decomposed, we plan to use it as a compost on the top of the soil, but only a thin layer applied every year along with our own home made compost.

Teresa Brown, Reparation Project Manager, says “We are really grateful for the kind donation from Amey, this will help us with both our existing and future projects”.

Produce grown on the Cambridge allotment by the young people will be used to support other charities such as; Jimmy’s Homeless Shelter, NCCP (North Cambridge Community Partnership) where some of the produce grown will be donated for teaching families to cook; and The Edge Café who are working with Fareshare to cut down waste.

Fareshare redistribute good food destined for the waste to charities and community groups who turn it into nutritional meals for vulnerable people, with any unused produce being given directly to customers who need it.

Jon Jones, Amey’s Cambridgeshire Account Director, said: “The work of the YMCA with young families is so important, and utilising the great outdoors as a way of improving lives is fantastic. We are very happy to support their local projects with a donation of local soil improver made in Cambridgeshire.”

We are always grateful for any support and donations from the local community which enables us to improve our services for young people – Thank you Amey!