GREEN-FINGERED volunteers have given a new lease of life to allotments at a Skilling block of flats.

With the help of community group HOME IN BRIDPORT, residents got stuck in to clear allotments at the Magna-owned Princess Road flats, digging over the soil so the site is ready for planting and sowing seeds.

Rebecca Garner, who is a working mum from Bridport and has facilitated the project, explained she wanted to help others to gain enjoyment and affordable produce from the allotments as she had done with her own garden.

She said: "I have been blown away by the response, because this has been a dormant allotment for many years.

"Many of the ten families who are involved with the allotment work on zero hours contracts or low wages, and they all have young families.

"They are extremely enthusiastic and I'm so impressed that they are running out there every morning to work on the allotments and improve the landscape.

"The parents' response is that it's improving the wellbeing of the children, that it's somewhere for the kids to play close to home and get exercise."

She added that the group's work has only just begun, saying: "We are about to start ordering plants and seeds and we want to create raised beds and get a shed.

"We are also fundraising to link up the area to the flats with a path, and we are trying to create a seating area for residents who are less able, so they can join in with everybody in the community."

HOME IN BRDIPORT is a community group set up with the aim of building trust and friendship through cultural work such as photography, music, literature, theatre, growing food and helping people to learn about preparing healthy inexpensive meals.

The allotments are the latest focus for the HOME group as it is also currently working with St Mary's School and Transition Town Bridport on a vegetable patch in the school's polytunnel.

Documentary-maker and Bridport resident Robert Golden, who helped set up HOME, said: "The goal of the projects is to get people involved in each project so they can then take ownership of it.

"One day coming back from work, I was driving through Skilling and was thinking 'why am I not doing something here?'

"I spoke to people in the community and I couldn't believe that just a mile and a half from me there were children going to school hungry."

Mr Golden added: "We live in a very good-hearted community and all it needs is for people to step forward and say 'let's make something happen.

"We hope that when people get involved they begin to ask questions about their life and the world around them...so it creates a sense of consciousness and community."

HOME is currently looking for land to begin a training centre for people wishing to learn new countryside skills such as agriculture, horticulture, canning, cheese making, and goat herding.

If you can help, visit home-in-bridport.weebly.com