1. TCV
The Community Volunteering Charity
Chris Speirs
TCV Health Development Manager
16th
July 2015
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®

2. Afternoon Programme:
Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®
2.00 Green Gym Warm-up
2.10 Green Gym Introduction
2.25 Bromley Green Gym – Ching Chua
2.35 Penge Green Gym – Brenda Little
2.45 Q&A
3.00 Breakout sessions/feedback on the barriers and benefits to
becoming self-sustaining
3.30 Reflections and actions

3. Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®
TCV - The Community Volunteering Charity
• Established 1959 as BTCV
• 11,000 registered volunteers 2014/15
• Over 1 million volunteer hours
• Manage 2000 Green Spaces
• Network of 2000 Community Groups
• Urban Ecology Parks
• Local Nature Reserves
• Green Gym
• Leadership
• Natural Talent

4. Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®
TCV Green Gym®
• Established in 1997
• Partnership between TCV and GP
• 1997 Oxfordshire pilot in GP Surgery
• Over 100 Green Gyms in the UK
• 36 Community Green Gyms
• 1200 new people joined a TCV Green Gym in 2014/15
• 25% from top 15% most deprived areas
• 77% of Green Gym participants have never taken part in
practical conservation volunteering before

5. Green Gym
Community
Groups
Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®
There’s always going to be a
need for local people and groups to look after
the places where they live. The last 10 years
have seen the number of people involved in
local action on the environment treble across
the UK.
‘Environments for All’- TCV

6. TCV Community Network
Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®
• All around the UK, more people than ever before are getting
together in community groups to improve their local
environments.
• TCV's Community Network already supports several thousand
groups.
• Membership of the Network is open to all community groups,
clubs, schools or local organisations wanting to work for a better
environment.

7. Bromley Green Gym
Thursday, 16 July 2015
Ching C Chua
Bromley Green Gym Secretary

8. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
Where?
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

9. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
When?
•Private gardens bequeathed to London Borough of
Bromley, 1980s
•Neglected [+anti-social behaviour]
•May 2011: The Conservation Volunteers, LBB +
corporate financial support [The Glades]
•May 2011- April 2013: TCV officer support, TCV
volunteers, local volunteers, establishing
management group of local volunteers
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

10. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
Transition period May 2011 – April 2013
•Undertaking activities underpinning 3 main aims:
improving environment for local community; improving
environment for wildlife; improving well-being of
volunteers
•Self-identification of 3 or 4 possible project leaders; TCV
training [leadership, health and safety, emergency first
aid, etc]
•Establishing constitution for community group + main
roles [chair, treasurer, secretary]; adopting TCV principles
and practices for green gyms [TCV manual]
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

11. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
Independence, April 2013
•‘working’ management group, 3 TCV-trained project
leaders, TCV green gym manual, plus ‘security blanket’ of
ongoing support agreement with TCV [6 officer
days/year] and London Borough of Bromley [contracted-
out grass cutting and emptying litter bins, + public
liability insurance cover]
•Some monies already in the bank account
•Access to TCV Chestnut fund grants [basic start-up]
•Daunting prospect, nevertheless
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

12. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
April 2013 – present day
•Becoming a community group and being a
sustainable community group
•Sustainable – being able to bear [strain,
suffering] without collapse
•Financial aspects
•People aspects
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

13. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
Sustainability - finance aspects
•bids to local retailers [eg Waitrose Community Matters],
and regional funders [eg Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association; Mayor of London Capital Clean-up]
•running corporate days [arranged through Project Dirt]
•sponsored activities
•open days [to encourage more locals to know about,
and use the park]
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

14. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
Sustainability - people/volunteer aspects
•need volunteers on-the-ground , plus ‘core’ group to do work behind the
scenes on regular basis, plan weekly activities, network, etc
•volunteer turn-over – some [younger] volunteers active for few
weeks/months then move [back] into paid employment; referrals from social
care agencies; succession planning
•growing presence of Friends Forum, a group coordinating activities of 30+
‘friends of’ volunteer groups looking after Bromley’s parks and open spaces;
liaison with the borough; organising training courses at local level for ‘friends’
groups
•possible issue for ‘us’ –need more very local people
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

15. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
Sustainability - use of gardens as a local free
outdoor resource
•raising profile within local community – this year’s
open day advertised as part of [annual 3-week]
Penge Festival …as well as part of London Open
Gardens Squares Weekend
•local twitter feeds, facebook presence; links to
web-site from Penge Tourist Board web-site, etc
•local brownie group and child-care nurseries using
the park
•publicity in local newsshopper
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

16. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

17. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

18. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

19. Penge Green Gym Community
Group/Friends of Winsford Gardens
july2015 conference_connecting green
space projects

20. What are the barriers
to achieving a sustainable
community green space
project?
Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2052
Community Green Gym®

21. Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
1. Sufficient trained leaders/first-aiders/mentors
2. Take-up of key roles and responsibility in committee
3. Agreement with landowners
4. Funding
5. Supporting long-term volunteers with special needs
6. Support from a Network
7. Ongoing training
8. Steady stream of new participants and volunteers
Community Green Gym®

22. What are the benefits of a
self-sustaining
green space project?
Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®

23. Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®
1. Ensuring a legacy and activity into the future
2. Empowering/training more local community leaders
3. Allows resources to be use to develop more projects
4. Independence – less bureaucracy
5. Community Resilience – ability to adapt to change locally
6. Support from a wide-range of networks
7. Less funding restrictions
8. Access to funding not available to large charity, TCV

24. tcv.org.uk/greengym
greengym@tcv.org.uk
@TCVGreenGym
facebook.com/TheConservationVolunteers
Join in, feel good
© The Conservation Volunteers 2015
Community Green Gym®