A group of our residents from Massingham Park in Taunton have teamed up with Selworthy School to provide the estate with colourful planters for a new outdoor seating area as part of a school enterprise project.
Sixth form Students, from Selworthy Special School, an educational special school for children and young people with learning disabilities aged 4–19, came together for an eco-friendly project to practice their DIY skills and to learn more about re-using and recycling materials.
They turned old pallets into colourful wall planters for the local children from Massingham Park to grow herbs and flowers in.
The wall planters will form part of a new outdoor communal area of former disused land which has now been repurposed to create a fully paved and accessible area with communal bench, funded by the residents and LiveWest.
Amy, a LiveWest resident from Massingham Park, said: “The young people living on the estate came up with the idea of creating an outdoor communal space for them to gather out of the way of passing cars. We are so pleased to see it being used safely by the whole community.
"We felt it was really important to use a local business to provide the planters, as a community we appreciate the strain local independent businesses are under at this current time so wanted to do our bit to support local enterprise.
"The talented students from Selworthy School got to show us their DIY skills and raise some money for their own resources and we now have some colourful planters for the children to grow their own herbs and flowers in.
"When we are able to come together as a community again after lockdown we really want to have a street party and to invite the school so they can see the finished area and to thank the young people for their hard work.”
Ian Spearman, Sixth Form Lead at Selworthy School, said: “With the money raised from the planters we are reinvesting this back into new tools to continue our enterprise project.
"We have been running the enterprise project for sixth formers for a while now, for them to hand over their finished product and to see it in use has been really rewarding. We are looking forward to many more opportunities to work with our local LiveWest community in the future.”
Selworthy School’s enterprise project has seen many products being made out of disused pallets for the local community including giant pallet Christmas trees. The focus is around building life skills in DIY and business management to prepare the young people for adulthood.
Shona Stone, Community Connector at LiveWest, said: “The new outdoor space is a true example of the local community coming together to create something that everyone can enjoy. The young people have so much pride for their estate and this is just one of the many ways they are continually getting active in improving the area.”