We are delighted to be able to tell everyone that EVWG volunteer Ray Evans, has reached the finals of the Steve Morgan Foundation annual awards for Volunteer of the Year.
This is the 20th Anniversary of these prestigious awards and it is a great honour for Ray and for Erlas Victorian Walled Garden to reach the finals. The winner will be announced at a conference at the Carden Park Hotel on 28th March 2022.
Erlas have had a strong relationship with the Morgan Foundation for a significant number of years and have benefitted from funding for different projects including funding during the Covid pandemic to ensure that we could continue to support our service users.
Ray pictured above during the roundhouse restoration, will be well known to everybody associated with Erlas, having volunteered for over 11 years and been working with us 3 days a week for so long now that most people assume he is a full time, member of staff. As Ray put it “I have been here a long time and seen a lot of changes, but I am still enjoying it every day”.
His contribution to Erlas over the last 11 years has been immense and varied. Below are a few pictures of Ray in action.
Congratulations to Ray on his nomination and thanks from everybody associated with Erlas for all his work for the charity. Thanks Ray.
We are delighted to announce that we are again recruiting. We are searching for two dedicated and committed individuals to support new roles in the garden.
Full details of the roles and how to apply can be found by clicking on the two links below
The purpose of this new job is to provide administrative support to the charity to ensure the efficient operation of the organisation. The postholder will support managers, employees, volunteers and directors through a variety of tasks related to organisation, administration and communication.
There is a one-year fixed term part-time contract for 35 hours a week. The postholder will be line managed by the Charity Lead Officer.
This role will require the postholder to work on the charity’s premises.
The purpose of this new job is to increase involvement of the general community and those marginalised by society in all aspects of the charity especially in the garden and to improve opportunities for service users to interact with volunteers and members of the community.
There is a one-year fixed term contract, but if this project were to be successful, funding would be sought to continue the contract.
We are delighted to announce another Garden Open Day on Sunday, 18 July 2021 from 13:00 – 16:00.
Following the success of our recent open days in May and June, we are pleased to announce that we are opening Erlas Victorian Walled Garden to the public again on Sunday 18th July 2021, when there will be an opportunity to have a wander around the garden and also to purchase plants and vegetables from our shop.
While in the garden why not follow our nature trail and see what you can spot in the garden, you can download a copy of the nature trail guide here.
Entrance will be via the West Garden with exit via the shop and main gate, please follow the signs and be prepared to wait a few minutes should these areas get congested. To keep everybody safe we will be limiting the number of people who can access the shop area at any one time and we ask that you observe the 2 metre rule whilst in the garden.
We look forward to welcoming our friends old and new and hope you enjoy your visit.
In this update I bring you news of the progress made in getting everybody back into the garden, introduce three new members of staff, an update on recent open days and plans for future events, and news of our fundraising.
I was delighted to receive the three photos below, taken by John Hughes last week. This level of activity in the garden is something that we have not seen for 15 months; it is testament to the dedication of staff and volunteers that the garden has been kept in such great shape and that we are now able to open the garden to our beneficiaries while working in a Covid safe environment. We are continuing to increase the number of beneficiaries coming back into the garden each week and we look forward to the time when we can get back up to full capacity.
Click on the picture to see the full size versionClick on the picture to see the full size versionClick on the picture to see the full size version
John Hughes continues his series of drawings and his June offering is a Stag Beetle which was spotted in the garden in late June.
One adjustment we have had to make due to the pandemic, is to operate with much smaller group sizes and hence we have recruited new members of staff and deployed temporary buildings so that we can operate safely distanced while inside.
Introducing New Members of Staff
We are lucky to have a dedicated and very successful fundraiser in Ann Morton and through her efforts we were able to secure funding from a number of different sources to allow us to take on more staff as part of our Covid recovery plan. So far we have recruited three new members of staff and are currently interviewing for an additional person.
Our three new members are:
John HughesTracey GreenGareth Davies
John has been a volunteer for many years and is well known to all at the garden, Tracey joins us from the NHS where she worked as an Occupational Therapist and Gareth has been working within the Wrexham care community and will be known to people in the garden through his care work. We are expecting to announce a further staff member this month so watch this space.
We are currently recruiting for a Charity Lead Officer and details of this role can be found on our vacancies page.
Open Days
Our recent open days in May and June have been very successful in raising much needed funds for the charity and importantly enabling us to reconnect with the community. Over 300 people attended the May event and a further 200 plus people attended June’s event, raising over £2,000 in total.
We are hoping to have another open day in July and details will be posted when a decision has been made, in the meantime we will be open in September as part of the National Garden Scheme; click here for details.
Fundraising
During the 2020/21 period when the garden was closed to beneficiaries we were able to run online classes and deliver our successful Keeping In Touch programme which included the purchase of IT equipment for beneficiaries and staff to be able to run the programme, all of which were made possible through the generosity of a number of funding organisations. Since reopening to beneficiaries we have taken on additional staff as part of our Covid recovery programme and again this has only been possible due to some fantastic funding from different organisations. We have received specific Covid related funding from:
Henry Smith Covid 19 Response Fund
Community Foundation in Wales – recovery fund
Moondance Foundation – Covid 19 relief fund
Community Foundation in Wales – resilience fund
Community Foundation in Wales –respond and recovery fund
Steve Morgan – Covid-19 Emergency Fund
Community Inclusion – Covid 19 Response Grant. (Wrexham Social Services)
We welcome all donations; you can help us by clicking here.
What are we raising money for? The enforced closure of the garden to the public over the last 14 months has had a significant impact on our ability to raise funds through Summer and Winter fayres, plant and vegetable sales, garden open days, hosting events and visits from clubs. We have lost over £8,000 of income from these events. Through this initiative we are raising funds to improve the paths and make them safer for those with mobility difficulties, replace the failing raised beds which are so important to our beneficiaries and to replace the bridge decking and rails over the pond which are in need of attention.
How do I donate? Please follow the link below to our entry on the Aviva Community Fund webpage and follow the instructions to donate.
Don’t forget that we are open this Sunday, 13th June from 13:00 – 16:00 when you will have the opportunity to wander around the garden and to purchase plants and veg from our plant shop. Everybody welcome, including well behaved dogs on leads.
Thank you to everybody who attended the Open Day last Sunday, it was great to see so many old and new friends in the garden enjoying the surroundings and purchasing plants from our shop. Your generosity enabled us to raise over £1000.
The opening attracted over 300 visitors and proved that we are able to run open days in Covid safe way. The link below is to an article in the Wrexham Leader celebrating the successful opening
Such was the success of the day we are opening the garden again on Sunday 13th June 2021 from 1pm – 4pm and we hope that you will be able to attend.
We are continuing to raise funds through the Aviva Community Fund and we would be delighted if you would pledge a donation to us through the link below.
All donations come directly to the garden, along with any associated gift aid, and will be used to make the bridge over the pond safer, improve the pathways making them safer for those with mobility problems and replacing the failing raised beds.
We are delighted to announce that today we have launched a fundraising partnership with the Aviva Community Fund and Crowdfunder to raise money for Erlas Victorian Walled Garden and in order to make the most of this opportunity we are asking you to donate to Erlas through the Aviva Community Fund Webpage. This initiative is available until 16th June 2021 and your early response would be most welcome.
How does it Work? Aviva pledge £1m per year to their community fund. The money is distributed through their staff who are each given £25 to donate to a charity which has been selected to take part. At the same time our own supporters can donate through the same pages.
Why should you donate this way? Put simply, a well supported project is more likely to attract Aviva employees to pledge their money to the project, to recommend to their family and friends to do likewise and hence we are more likely to reach our target.
What are we raising money for? The enforced closure of the garden to the public over the last 14 months has had a significant impact on our ability to raise funds through Summer and Winter fayres, plant and vegetable sales, garden open days, hosting events and visits from clubs. We have lost over £8,000 of income from these events. Through this initiative we are raising funds to improve the paths and make them safer for those with mobility difficulties, replace the failing raised beds which are so important to our beneficiaries and to replace the bridge decking and rails over the pond which are in need of attention.
How do I donate? Please follow the link below to our entry on the Aviva Community Fund webpage and follow the instructions to donate.
As we approach the one year anniversary of the garden being closed to all except staff and a small number of volunteers, and with lockdown starting to be eased and the vaccination programme in Wales in full flight, we are re-introducing regular updates from the garden as we move towards some form of re-opening, hopefully in the near future.
Talking of “flight”, John Hughes one of regular volunteers, has been producing a monthly wildlife sketch of activity in the garden.
This month’s drawing features a buzzard. Whilst buzzards are common to most of Wales, it is unusual to see quite as much of them as we have done in the garden in the last few weeks, where they have been spotted soaring overhead as well as calmly sitting on the fencing around the pond area.
John’s drawings for January and February featured a robin and earthworm respectively.
John pictured in the beautiful sunshine last year.
Great drawings John, we look forward to seeing what has caught your eye in April.
Vacancy: Erlas Victorian Walled Garden – Keeping In Touch Support Worker
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the small team of dedicated, professional staff at Erlas Victorian Walled Garden, Bryn Estyn Road, Wrexham (EVWG) providing a valuable service for adults with learning disabilities.
During the current pandemic we have had to close the garden to our service users. However, we have used the time to develop our online services for groups and individuals. These services include providing activities for our service users such as word searches and other puzzles, colouring activities, sewing, and growing seeds. All the material for these activities is then sent out to our service users. We also produce a newsletter and hold interactive sessions such as bingo and singing. All these activities have proved very popular with our service users.
As part of our post-Covid plans to reopen the garden, we intend to continue and further develop this additional support so that we can offer a broad mix of face-to-face activities in the garden and social and learning opportunities to be offered online.
As the Keeping In Touch Support Worker you will be involved in of all these activities and be instrumental in developing and delivering the future programme. You will make a huge difference to the lives of our service users.
The person we are looking for will be experienced in the following competencies, preferably gained while working with adults with learning disabilities:
Respect and Tolerance
Team Working – Peers, Managers and Trustees
Creative Thinking – developing and delivering new face to face and online activities
Communication – Verbal and written, face to face and via technology including Social Media
Use of Technology – including Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Office, iPads
Adapting to change
This is a 12 month contract of 37 hours per week, with a 2 month probation period and a salary of £17,489 pa.
An enhanced DBS check will be required for the successful candidate.
If you would like to apply for this position, please send your CV and a covering letter to hr@erlas.org. Please include 2 references, one of whom should be your current or last employer. The covering letter should include examples of how you meet the competencies for the role and demonstrate values consistent with those of EVWG.
Closing date for applications is 21st March 2021 and interviews are expected to be held week commencing 29th March 2021.
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