COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Community Environmental Trust – empowering residents and enhancing green spaces

Words by Hema Chumber

Local families working at the Community Garden / Image supplied by CET

The Community Environmental Trust (CET) was set up in the early 1990s as part of the wider Castle Vale regeneration project, which aimed to improve housing and create job opportunities for local people.

CET’s role was to focus on environmental issues and make sure they were addressed alongside other developments.

Today, CET remains active in Castle Vale, running a range of environmental programmes that get local residents involved in looking after green spaces and making the area more sustainable.

The Trust provides volunteering opportunities, education, and outdoor activities, helping people get more connected to their community.

Tending to vegetable planters at the Community Garden / Image supplied by CET

One of CET’s key projects is the Community Garden at the Castle Vale Allotments. The garden offers local residents a chance to learn about gardening and food-growing, while providing space for people to grow their own food and meet others.

CET also manages the Community Orchard in partnership with Castle Vale Allotments, Fruit and Nut Village, and Slow Food. The orchard has 29 fruit trees, including apples, pears, and plums, providing fresh produce for the community.

Alongside the gardening programmes, the charity hosts water sports sessions at a nearby canal, offering kayaking and bell-boating. Special sessions will be held over the February half term (18 – 21 February), with free kayaking at 12pm and bell-boating at 10am each day. These activities are designed to be accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages.

Young people taking part in bell boat lesson / Image supplied by CET

Stuart Connolly, Paddle Sport Instructor at CET, said: “We think it’s really important to encourage people in the community, of all ages, to spend some time outside, away from screens, and really connect with the nature around them.”

He adds: “The water sport activities we run here offer that helping hand to people, by getting them out in the fresh air, and connecting with their neighbours and friends in the area – it’s also good to to meet new people, and build new friendships.”

A service user, who participates in CET’s water sports sessions, further told: “Due to lower body issues, I thought I could never get in and out of a boat. But now I’m absolutely enchanted, along with physical support from the staff at CET.”

Young people taking part in bell boat lesson / Image supplied by CET

They add: “The bell-boats cannot tip over or sink, and you really can’t fall out unless you’re doing something completely unadvisable, so it’s absolutely safe for everybody. On the boat, we just paddle and have a laugh.

“We also do litter picking. These are very community-minded activities, and I can’t recommend them enough. It’s good for the body, the soul, the spirit, and the environment.”

Through its work, CET continues to have an impact on both the local environment and the community. By offering opportunities for volunteering, outdoor activities, and environmental care, CET plays a role in building a stronger, more connected community in Castle Vale.

For those interested in getting involved, further information can be found at www.environmentaltrust.org.uk or on CET’s Facebook page @CETBrum

For more on the CET water sports activities contact Stuart Connolly at [email protected]

For all other CET enquiries contact Alicia Grande at [email protected]

Watch out for more COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT features from Erdington Local, online and in our monthly newspaper.

If you are from a community group or an active volunteer anywhere in the Erdington constituency then we want to hear for you. Please email our Community Reporter Hema Chumber at: [email protected]

NEWS: Heartless thieves target Kingstanding charity stealing £20,000 of community equipment

Words by Adam Smith / Pics supplied by Kingstanding Regeneration Trust

A Kingstanding charity is reeling after thieves stole tools worth £20,000 which local youngsters use to clean up pensioners’ gardens.

Burglars used an angle grinder saw to break into Kingstanding Regeneration Trust’s (KRT) shipping container, Dulwich Road, and clear the shelves inside – steeling so much gardening gear they needed a large van to drive it away.

The charity, which is based at Kingstanding Leisure Centre, has now been burgled four times in two years.

Assistant manager Emily Dwyer told Erdington Local: “This is really upsetting. This is the fourth time we have been broken into in two years. We really try and do good work for the community at KRT so it is very sad this keeps happening.

These tools were used to help local young people get back into work and provide a gardening service for the pensioners.”

She added: “In December last year, thieves broke in and stole all our computers. We are waiting to find out what our insurers say about the tools but it will be so hard to get insurance after this latest break-in.

If anyone has any information about our tools or would like to donate to the charity then please contact us on 0121 439 6780.”

KRT was founded 12 years ago and provides training for young people to help them get into work.

The charity also provides a low cost gardening service for pensioners throughout North Birmingham and runs various community projects from the leisure centre.

As part of their ongoing community outreach activities, KRT also helps nurture and develop green spaces – creating eight community gardens in recent years and “greened up” Hawthorn Road by planting trees and shrubbery.

Kingstanding Police Team issued an appeal for information to the public about the theft at KRT.

PCSO Tracy Baker said: “KRT, a local charity based at Kingstanding Leisure Centre, has had their shipping container broken into over the weekend.

The container was full of gardening and power tools worth approximately £20,000. All the tools are used to train young people so they can access employment. The container had three locks on and needed an angle grinder or still saw and a large van to carry all the kit.”

She added: “Please may I ask you report any information you have, especially if you are approached by someone selling tool to us via 101 or our Live Web Chat quoting crime number 20BE/228247Q/20.”

To find out more about Kingstanding Regeneration Trust, visit www.krtbirmimingham.co.uk

For more on the Kingstanding Police team, including non-emergency contact information, visit www.west-midlands.police.uk/node/2711b