Bristol – The Distillery

The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park manage the award-winning nature reserve and heritage site, a breathing space in the heart of East London. This woodland cemetery is a unique place of transformation: a people’s cemetery, a place for remembrance, a sanctuary for humans as well as nature, a place for festivals, field studies and forest schools. Always changing with the seasons, it is rooted in the history of the East End, a place of rich heritage that is full of possibilities and freedom for all. Our aim is to preserve, care for and improve Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park as a place of historic, ecological, educational and recreational interest. Our main objectives are to manage wildlife and historic monuments for our community to enjoy, to be a people-centric charity, to connect with diverse demographics, and to influence the management, development and public enjoyment of other greenspaces in Tower Hamlets.

At Dougie Mac we have been caring for the community since 1973. We provide all hospice services free of charge to over 3,500 local people with life-limiting illnesses each year in Stoke-on-Trent, North Staffordshire and the surrounding villages, also offering supportive care to their families and carers. Since the successful amalgamation with Donna Louise Trust in March 2021, we now care for Children, Young Adults and Adults.

Heart of BS13 was established in 1990 to address the barriers faced by the BS13 community in South Bristol to improving their physical and mental health. We focus on the intersection between employment, health and the environment and we have recently launched two new food related social enterprises, closing the loop between growing, food production and waste. Post pandemic and facing the global climate crisis, Heart of BS13 is entirely focused on the integration of green economic innovation and vocational training/job creation. We are constantly, seeking effective ways to reduce our carbon outputs and have become obsessed with how to harness waste potential for improved biodiversity, income generation, employment opportunities and (by extension) low-carbon science engagement. The English Indices of Deprivation places BS13 in one of the 10% most deprived areas of the country. Only two percent of young people will go into higher education, and most will work in low-skill, low-pay sectors on zero-hour contracts, making it virtually impossible to escape the trans-generational poverty that traps many families here. BS13 does not attract industry, innovation, or investment. It is seen as a difficult place to gain traction after years of under-investment, but at Heart of BS13 we’re focusing on proving the city wrong, promoting social values and high food production standards that are widely recognised across the city. We’ve emerged as a plucky organisation that punches above its weight, feeding our community during the pandemic, and taking action to make long-term changes to the local food system. In 2020 we became one of six climate action partners in Bristol, tasked with bringing communication and action around the climate and environmental crisis to underserved communities in the city. Heart of BS13 engages and involves residents to identify the challenges that affect their daily lives and then to find imaginative solutions that affect change. Currently, conversations about the climate crisis take place in central, often academic settings that are inaccessible to geographically and socially isolated communities. Finding a way to make BS13 part of the city-wide conversation and call to action means bringing the science behind decarbonisation and environmental justice to the community and enabling residents to become active participants and drivers of change. Our proposal We want to transform food waste recycling in BS13, turning a waste management problem into an organic composting, income generating and vocational training solution and opportunity for unemployed residents.