The main purpose of Torridge Growing Together CIC (TGT) is to ‘grow people’ through meaningful and sustainable activities such as community food growing, conservation and repurposing/upcycling items that would otherwise go to waste. We are based in the District of Torridge, which is a beautiful part of Devon, but this can mask the fact that many neighbourhoods are among the 10-20% most socially deprived areas in the UK. There are high levels of homelessness; social isolation; food poverty; unemployment plus poor mental and physical health. Loss of local mental health provision and supported employment opportunities compound the problem.

We address these issues through developing friendship and trust by working towards a common goal, empowering people of all abilities to discover their strengths; develop skills and have a purposeful impact on their local area. Many of our volunteers are long-term unemployed, with additional needs such as physical and/or mental health challenges and/or learning difficulties/neurodivergence.

We provide a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, recognising that each person has different skills and knowledge to share. We support people to access training and work experience opportunities, as well as developing our own peer mentoring system (e.g. Gardening Buddies). We also encourage creativity through art, craft and media teams.

We have weekly ‘Plan, Chat, and Learn’ meetings in Bideford, where we also offer support through 'TGT Assist', where people are helped with getting online, completing forms and working towards individual goals. We have several different allotments (including one that is wheelchair accessible) and support other gardening and environmental community groups in the Torridge area. Our ‘Growing Towards Employment’ programme focusses more on individual goals and targets to overcome any barriers, with a longer-term vision to offer supported employment opportunities to those who are not yet ready/able to manage mainstream jobs.