“Thanks very much” – Incredible Edible hits crowd funder goal of £10,000 to improve park in Salford

Incredible Edible has met its goal of raising £10,000 to boost a community project at Buile Hill Park to improve the facilities and promote planting healthy foods and positive mental health for the community.

Mike Scantlebury, secretary of Incredible Edible, which looks to promote saving green spaces by planting foods in disused planters and land, said:

“Incredible Edible has been going for a while and from the very beginning it was all about the environment, the food we ate. It was a bit revolutionary at the time because it was asking you to think about what we’re eating and if possible, grow as much as you can.”

The main emphasis for the group was focused on growing food.

The crowdfunder was set up with the goal of £10,000 and through friends, family and sponsors they reached the 25 per cent goal, which meant that they were able to apply for the Major’s fund. This meant that whatever Incredible Edible were able to raise the Major’s fund would match it.

The group was able to raise the full £5,000 and received the same amount from the Major’s fund.

Mr Scantlebury said: “We thought if we had enough money we could cover over areas of need.”

These include a mental health expert who could help the residents of Buile Hill Park which is a hub for people who may struggle with mental health.

Mr Scantlebury talked about the crowd funder page, he explained: “When we’re talking about fundraising, there’s not a recipe, it’s not we need a thousand pounds for that or a thousand pounds for that. The first question we’ll ask is what can we do in our local area?”

This is what happened in the case of Buile Hill Park, the disused lower bowling green was converted into an allotment. Which were popular with the residents, this was successful for a couple of years.

However, Mr Scantlebury said: “I think that in 2021 we realized we’d hit a plateau and there’s only so much we could do by asking people to do it for nothing.”

He continued:

“There was a real need to get a pot of money to pay people’s expenses at least, so they weren’t out of pocket. So they weren’t coming in and spending their own money.”

He talked about how the residents managing the allotments were bringing their own equipment and paying for seeds, among other things.