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The post holder will be responsible for leading Badenoch and Strathspey Therapy Gardens’ project work, undertaking sessions in the Growing Spaces within the Am Fasgadh allotments, in the Glen and Wade Centres and at the Badenoch and Strathspey Community Hospital and Health Care Centre Therapy Garden.

The project aims to provide social and therapeutic horticulture to the different groups of service users who will have sessions in the Garden/s Growing Spaces or Day Centres. The project leader requires knowledge of gardening, not necessarily a qualification, but importantly, experience of working or volunteering with people who have a range of disabilities. They will also be responsible for supervising and supporting a small team of volunteers and delivering training to them. The post holder will contribute to monitoring the policies and ensure effective recording, reporting and evaluation of the project.

Place of work: Growing Spaces, Am Fasgadh Allotments, Kingussie: Glen Centre, Aviemore; Wade Centre, Kingussie; Badenoch and Strathspey Community Hospital and Health Care Centre.

Full Job Description click here

You must have a strong understanding of horticultural principles and a passion to share your knowledge with others.

Whilst formal horticultural training is NOT essential for the position, you must be able to demonstrate understanding of

plant propagation, composting, soil management and organic weed control, fruit and vegetable growing, and basic

pruning technique.

Most importantly, you will have excellent communication skills, and experience working with a range of people, either

in a professional or previous volunteering capacity. You will have strong organisational skills and be able to plan,

coordinate and deliver a range of activities tailored to a wide range of diverse audiences. You will have experience of

working with volunteers and will be able to develop and grow our volunteering capacity and opportunities.

You will be passionate about the natural world, horticulture, and its role in enhancing positive impacts on the

environment.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist the Educational Gardener in overseeing the development and delivery of our volunteer engagement and

opportunity programme through activities, events and initiatives.

• Assist the Educational Gardener in the management of the community growing space and liaise with the

Development Manager on the management of the learning facilities within the Community Learning Hub.

• Assist the Educational Gardener in the monitoring and maintenance of the public gardens within Castlebank Park.

• Lead or assist as appropriate in the delivery of volunteer or partner activity in association with partner

organisations including Clydesdale Community Initiatives and Skills Exchange Scotland.

• Assist in the development of community projects including the food growing scheme.

• Liaise with, and where appropriate work with, other organisations/partners to provide and educate on horticultural

activities.

• Maintain safe outdoor working practices and strict adherence to relevant Health & Safety legislation.

• Participate in community events held at the Horticultural Centre including plant sales, guided tours, open days etc.

• Identify opportunities for volunteer development and upskilling.

• Provide support to volunteers as appropriate.

• Undertake any other duties as required by the Horticultural Centre.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• Experience of working with and supporting a wide range of community groups and individuals with additional

support needs.

• Experience of working with volunteers and supporting volunteer rotas / work programmes.

• Horticultural qualification or demonstrable equivalent experience, either through extensive personal experience, in

a nursery, garden centre or public garden.

• The ability to prioritise workload and to work on your own initiative.

Desirable Criteria

• Knowledge of mental health conditions and learning difficulties.

• Experience of ecological and biodiversity activities.

• Interest or knowledge in Lanark’s history and Castlebank Park’s significance.

Please note that any offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure Scotland [Protection of

Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007] Scheme approval or Scheme update.

The opportunity   

The Orchard Project is seeking to develop our work in Scotland to raise the profile of urban community orchards, secure new funding and cement new partnerships to address issues such as well-being, community cohesion, social isolation, food security, climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Our current Scottish team is comprised of 2 x 0.6 FTE Project Managers based in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Project Managers are embedded in their local communities but the majority of their capacity is taken up with delivery. 

We are seeking a well networked, business development minded individual with experience both in the food growing sector and working strategically at policy level. Someone with their finger on the pulse!

www.theorchardproject.org.uk

The specific outputs that we require from consultancy are:

• Draw up a map of funding prospects for our central belt Scottish orchards both from statutory and grant funders
• Identify new leads and develop existing leads we have for projects and funding
• Advocate for The Orchard Project with both local and national government to get introductions to key decision makers.
• Draw up recommendations for areas where we can make the most impact in different policy areas , in order to access relevant funding for new projects – e.g. green infrastructure, urban planning, health and well-being, community cohesion, urban agriculture, biodiversity
• Based on these recommendations and leads – to work alongside our Head of Fundraising and local Project Managers to develop and write funding bids for Scottish projects. Our target for fundraising begins at £50K. We anticipate this will take up the most time.
• If the consultant is able to secure funding which leads to a pan-Scotland programme, we would be interested in this as a potential outcome.

Skills and experience that you would need:  

• 5 years’ experience of working in a business development role or similar
• Excellent knowledge of stakeholder management and developing relationships
• Recent experience of working effectively with a range of commissioners, funders and other stakeholders in related fields
• Demonstrable experience of successful fundraising
• Well-networked in the central belt of Scotland  Great interpersonal skills and a can do attitude
• Passion and knowledge about sustainable agriculture/permaculture/organic growing

Budget and timescales

We envisage that the work will take place from January – March 2021 and have an indicative budget of £2.5K for this work. We are open to suggestions from the consultant on the best way to allocate this to achieve our outputs and outcomes.

Instructions for Tendering

Please send a CV, Equal & Diversity form and cover letter highlighting how your experience would support this project and outlining your approach to ella@theorchardproject.org.uk by 13^th December 2020. 

Interviews will be held virtually on Monday 21st December 2020.

Contact

For any questions about the role, please contact Kath Rosen, CEO: Kath@theorchardproject.org.uk

For any questions about recruitment, please contact Ella Hashemi, Head of Operations & Programmes:

Ella@theorchardproject.org.uk

Horatio’s Garden is an award-winning national charity creating and nurturing beautifully designed gardens in NHS spinal injury centres.

We are seeking an enthusiastic head gardener for this exciting role at Joe Swift’s designed hospital garden project at the UK’s largest spinal injury centre at Stoke Mandeville. This high-profile garden opened in 2018 and trail blazes the benefits of gardens and health. The project has had widespread publicity including being featured on Gardeners’ World.

The beautiful garden surrounds the spinal centre with contemporary planting designed for all year-round interest and includes a water feature, dense herbaceous planting and specimen trees. There is also a small area of wildflower meadow planting and a stumpery garden beyond the main garden.

Central to the garden is a large Garden room designed by architect Andrew Wells which give patients a warm sheltered place to enjoy the garden in all weather and is as a hub for garden activities and patient events. There is a large accessible greenhouse, cold frames and an area of raised beds for patients to get involved with gardening and a head gardener’s office.

As Head Gardener you will join a team of four other friendly Head Gardeners across the charity’s other projects. You will work with a part-time administrative assistant and a team of trained volunteers to nurture the beautiful space for patients of the spinal injury centre and their visitors. Joe Swift is closely involved, visiting regularly and offering advice.

The Head Gardener also works closely with the spinal injury centre team organising activities and events for patients and families in the garden.

The role is a fantastic opportunity for a gardener with an interest in gardens and wellbeing and a passion for people as well as plants. At Stoke Mandeville there are children with spinal injuries as well as adults and so a particular interest in gardening for children and families would be an advantage.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential

• Practical experience as a gardener, including experience of garden management
• Empathic, kind and have a love of people
• Experience of leading and managing teams.
• Able to manage budgets and petty cash.

Desirable

• RHS Level 2 Diploma in Principles and Practices of Horticulture.
• Post Graduate Diploma in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture.
• Experience of therapeutic activities.
• Experience with gardening with children
• Management of, and working with, volunteers.
• Good IT skills, specifically proficient with Microsoft Office 365: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
• Supplier management and ordering.
• Working in the voluntary sector.
• NHS experience or work in a health care setting.

Qualities

• Able to meet the physical demands of the job.
• Willingness to show commitment and flexibility in working practice.
• Self-motivated and capable of working with the minimum of direction but understanding the limits of your knowledge and able to seek advice when required.