Demonstration Held to Save Growhampton
Community garden project under threat due to funding withdrawal
Chickens rescued from the slaughterhouse at Growhampton
March 29, 2024
A protest was held this Thursday (28 March) by the Save Growhampton Campaign at the University of Roehampton.
Growhampton is a community garden and project based on the campus which attracts volunteers, not just from students, but also the wider local community including members from St Georges Hospital, Alton Estate and local primary schools.
It is active in the local area supporting the charities ReGenerate and BeEnriched.
Without warning, the Roehampton Student Union cut funding for the project resulting in two members of staff losing their jobs and the university has declined a request to step in and fund it.
Campaigners say the decision was made without consultation and a campaign has been started to save Growhampton. They argue that Growhampton is invaluable as it has delivered a number of benefits such as bringing students together with staff and residents of the area, boosting mental health, increasing local biodiversity and awareness of food production methods.
The suggestion of it becoming a student led and funded society is dismissed as impractical.
So far 344 students have signed an open letter and 237 statements of support from the community have come in already too.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CbYrJTVJawkdeqHLbjY-mqP8sslijTKm/view
A spokesperson for the campaign claimed that the staff were made to leave earlier than the otherwise might have been because of the strength of feeling on the issue.
The university’s Vice Chancellor declined to meet with campaigners, so this week’s peaceful demonstration was held outside his office at Grove House.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
