A Successful Spring Fair
Thank you to all of you who came to support Dale Farm Trust at our spring fair. The fair is one of our biggest opportunities for fund raising. The proceeds from our fairs and shop help provide a range of resources that help us continue supporting people, which gives them meaningful work opportunities.
The fair also gives the people we support an opportunity to demonstrate to, friends, family and our local community what they have accomplished.
A lot of time and effort went into preparing for the plant sale. The people we support, staff and volunteers all came together to produce planters and hanging baskets as well as growing on all the plants that were for sale on the day.
Many of the people we support enjoy working in our craft room, they produce imaginative ideas and crafts by working alongside our workshop team. We try to recycle as much material as possible to create a range of lovingly prepared, decorative, fun and sometimes sparkly gifts.
We would also like to thank The Epicures, who provided a lovely relaxed vibe whilst people, shopped, chatted to friends and enjoyed lunch at our BBQ. Our BBQ King, Dave was back in action flipping burgers and sausages, the guy is a legend cooking on such a hot sunny day.
The people we support have ranging abilities, which are put to best use by the staff and volunteers. Many of whom have a real eye for colour and design and chose the plants and layouts of the hanging baskets and planters. We try to utilise the skills of those we support, trying to find tasks they enjoy that employ their strengths. Many of the people we support enjoy working on the veg plots, others enjoy planting and working in the sensory garden, we try to ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to develop new skills and build on existing ones.
Perhaps one of the lesser known resources we have at Dale Farm is the fabulous purpose built woodwork shop. Working alongside time served tradespeople and volunteers the people we support can produce bespoke projects for the community. All you have to do is pop down and have a friendly no obligation chat with Lee or Chris and they will be happy to go through any designs and give you a quote. The people we support have jointly helped rebuild our sensory garden, replacing all the wood in the area, they have made solid planters, bird tables and built our new locker room from a kit build.
