Save London's Vineyard

Forty Hall Community Vineyard

Save London's Vineyard

An appeal by Forty Hall Community Vineyard

29%

£24,300

of £85,000

days left

348

backers

Donate now

About the appeal

Since 2009 our project has been thriving, but after a tough few years of poor harvests (due to the pandemic , adverse weather conditions, devastating powdery mildew and a lack of suitable equipment), it was make-or-break for us this year. Thankfully with this appeal campaign, we have so far secured the essential equipment we needed (including a tractor) and put all of our efforts into nurturing our vines. In September we were rewarded with a bumper harvest, that exceeded all expectations - the hard work had paid off.

However, we are not out of the woods yet. As a result of the previous disappointing harvests,our cash reserves are low, and we still need to pay for the production costs of the wines from this extraordinary yield. So we are relying on fundraising to fill the cash flow gap until the wine of our 2023 harvest is ready to sell.

About us:

Forty Hall Community Vineyard is a place of sanctuary and social connection for local people.
It is also London's only commercial scale vineyard since the Middle Ages - a unique heritage site in Enfield, North London. It is also a pioneering 'ecotherapy' project, with income from the sales of our award-winning, certified organic, wines being put back into maintaining our vineyard and delivering health and wellbeing activities for the benefit of our community. The vines are largely cared for by a dedicated group of over one hundred volunteers, who attend throughout the year. We also welcome the wider community for events and visits to enjoy the sanctuary of this unique green space in London.

Every donation is so gratefully received - thank you!
Donate £100 or more and we'll invite you to a special celebration in the vineyard to thank you personally for your support.
Donate £500 or more and we'll also put your (or your company) name up in the vineyard to show our gratitude.

29%

£24,300

of £85,000

days left

348

backers

Donate now

What your gift could provide

£10

Every penny counts! We'll be £10 closer to the tractor we so vitally need.

£100

Will help us protect 20 precious vines, this year and every year, to produce more lovely wine.

£500

Moves us firmly towards securing the long term future of London's vineyard, for everyone.

Latest donations

Caroline Cullen

I made a donation to Forty Hall Community Vineyard

10/01/2024

£10

Anonymous

I made a donation to Forty Hall Community Vineyard

09/10/2023

£20

Anonymous

I made a donation to Forty Hall Community Vineyard

08/10/2023

£30

Stats

Online donations

£19,419.50

Gift Aid

£3,968.63

Raised offline

£4,880.00

Total raised: £28,268.13

Connect

Latest update

We have a tractor!! We are incredibly grateful to every one of you who has generously contributed to our urgent fundraising appeal. So far, we have raised a whopping £23,426.50, purely from individual donations! This has enabled us to buy this second-hand Fendt tractor which we are extremely excited about! Until now we shared a tractor and it wasn't always available when we needed it. Now we have our very own to attach our new sprayer and under-vine strimmer to. Hoorah! Controlling the weeds and grass under vines is one of the most challenging aspects of maintaining an organic vineyard. Keeping the growth low keeps the air flowing making it less likely for disease to establish and spread. Choosing to be certified organic we do not use chemicals to control the growth, it was always done manually, so the strimmer is a huge step forward for us in management of the vines. The machine has been made for us by Voxx Machinery, a fantastic independent company in Kent who specialise in fruit and vineyard machinery. A huge thank you to owner Rob for pulling out all the stops for us. We still need to fundraise for other resources to be sustainable long term, but with these essential pieces of equipment we stand a far better chance of preventing and controlling the spread of disease and bringing in a good crop this year. Combined with a massive effort from our volunteer community, we are hopeful we will pull through. Please keep everything crossed for us and if you are still able to donate to our campaign, please do so. We will put every penny to good use so that we can continue being a benefit to the community and ensure the future of London's vineyard. THANK YOU!!