B&Q Gainsborough

GAPA offers an all year round play service for children and young people aged 0 – 14years, it is based in the heart of the Gainsborough community and also offers outreach play for those not able to access our site. We currently have 430 members who come from all areas of Gainsborough and surrounding villages. The service consists of an open access adventure playground and groups for children aged 0 – 4 years with their parents/carers. All of these services are carefully planned and are all based on play and learning and achieving positive outcomes for children and young people. At GAPA we believe that play is an important part of any child's life and the benefits are immense, we allow children to have opportunities to develop their sense of self-identity, self-esteem, to empathise with the situation of others and to grow aware of the consequences of their actions. At GAPA we encourage children to use its resources as they choose, which provides a wider range of opportunities and shows our trust in the children and that we value their input. Most of all, we allow children to be children and to have fun, relax, make friends and play. At GAPA we work in close partnership with families as a whole and have built up excellent working relationships and trust within the local community and are seen as the focal point of the estate were people of all ages come for lots of different reasons including, friendship, advice and support. GAPA has almost 3 acres of land that allows the children to be outdoors all year round in all weathers. We have a varied environment including a large and established hedgerow, wild areas were the grass is left to grow long, a water area that includes a cave and waterfall that falls into two pebbled streams and a large playing field that has areas of fixed play equipment and areas that have been developed over the years such as a fire pit, bug garden and sensory area. Outdoor play has many benefits for children and enables them to interact with others and helps to build confidence and social skills, and we are aware and understand the importance of research evidence that shows that the regular participation of physical activity provides all children, including children with a disability, with a wide range of physical, social and mental health benefits.

We support vulnerable adults experiencing mental health difficulties. We regularly combat food and fuel poverty. We run a daily drop-in at x-church combined with a soup kitchen.

The Wild and Well being Garden is an initiative at Royal Air Force Station Waddington that aims to foster community well being in a wildlife garden setting for the benefit of the whole RAF community based at Waddington (Serving RAF, Civil Servants and their families). The operational demands met by those who serve is increasingly intense, both on themselves and their families, and the green space provided by the garden allows those to escape from the hustle and bustle, read, sketch, reflect, and benefit from the advantages of spending time outdoors.