Ffynnon has been supporting volunteers for 6 years now and is expanding to include youth pathways through our community gardens and associated volunteering positions which include events, courses, retail, promotion, digital storytelling as well as business skills like admin and marketing. We will also be offering accreditation throughout Argored Cymru for the skills we offer in volunteering roles.

Ffynnon has sowed the seeds for our new youth pathways programme as we have developed the Demetae project (a project to nurture connection with the land). We began by inviting participants from the local authorities Futureworks programme (16-19yr olds) to sessions at one of our community garden sites, Field of Beans. During these sessions, the participants would get involved in a task on the land as well as an activity using materials from nature to create food, medicine or craft. The tasks were coordinated with the volunteers that work in the produce garden and included digging a pond, planting potatoes, clearing and mulching spaces and later planting fruit crops in those areas and building benches for a community fire pit. These tasks all provided transferable skills and routes into meaningful and rewarding work with food, animals, local circular economy, and entrepreneurship, as well as experience and confidence-building for those out of work or training. The programme, along with references ,provide an experience of work and community enterprise, routes to ongoing work, connection to community and the next step into building a connected life – giving to and being nurtured by the community and land.

Another avenue towards our youth pathways is through other youth programmes we are offering. Celf Wyllt is a partnership with Amethyst (Small world theatre) and CAHMS (NHS), working with 14-15 year olds suffering with mental health issues and Oakwise is a youth bushcraft club with local 10-15 year olds. These young people are welcomed into the Ffynnon community with information about events and access to outdoor spaces. Therefore Ffynnon becomes a familiar channel towards practical outdoor skills for young people within the community

Also south Wales charity Awel Aman Tawe and Egni Coop regularly use our sites with primary school children running specific environmental projects such as food waste, nature trails and garden design, which are linked to energy sparks, a youth initiative inspired by their work installing solar PV on local authority buildings and schools.

These young people have brought so much energy to our gardens and all have immensely enjoyed their time with us, many asking for more sessions. Each group has had some engagement with current volunteers, whether collaborating on a task, sharing information about chicken health or bringing friends and family to garden events, it’s all part of our ever growing Ffynnon family.