Tesco maintenance team praised for developing Day Services’ community garden project

Partnering with Baobab Bach, a network of community pantries across Wales, Bridgend Day Services are developing their community garden at Ty Pen y Bont to supply fresh vegetables for local pantries.

Their worthy venture has been facilitated by the unwavering support of the maintenance team of Tesco, Cowbridge Road, Bridgend.  The team have applied their skills to a range of jobs including moving a garden shed to make it more accessible, painting walls and fencing to reflect light into the polytunnel, as well as installing a new garden fence.

Nathan Tobin, Maintenance Technician at the supermarket, said: “An initiative of Tesco’s is to ‘give back’ to local communities, with its community assistance programme. The team really enjoy being able to help people in the area. 

“The community garden was a lot of work at the start, and we have worked throughout a range of weathers because we wanted to have the garden ready for the summer months.

“The staff and people attending the hub have been really welcoming - it’s been so rewarding and a privilege to be able to support them.”

Working in collaboration with Sharon Gronland, Community Access Development Officer, to organise the project, Scott Pickrell, Daytime Opportunities Manager, said: “It is not often these days that people provide a service in a voluntary capacity that far exceeds everyone’s expectations and in every way!  But that is exactly what the Tesco maintenance team have done at Ty Pen y Bont at our community garden project.

“Moreover, the way in which the support has been delivered as a symbiotic partnership, has been so engaging for the people that attend the community hub that it has created a level of excitement and enjoyment for all, with the prospect of great things to come.

“We are dearly indebted to Tesco for all for the hard work and enthusiasm in delivering the hard landscaping tasks and building maintenance, that has transformed the garden at Ty Pen y Bont into a gardener’s haven.

“Obviously, we are looking forward immensely to harvesting the first of the produce from the garden which will be used in our ‘cookery sessions’ at Ty Pen y Bont, as well as produce for the local food pantries and foodbanks.

“And the following quote from Charles Kingsley captures precisely what Tesco have given to all who will participate in this wonderful project:

“‘We have a field… Our field may be a small field, but it is a field. Tillage is possible, a crop is possible, and who can tell wither the wind may waft its seeds when the crop is ripe.’

“Thank you all so much. Greatly appreciated indeed.”

We are so very grateful for all the help provided by the Tesco maintenance team. They have gone above and beyond in their commitment to helping develop the Ty Pen y Bont Community Garden Project.

I am certain that this initiative will sow the seed for future projects – supplying food for the pantries, as well as the planned cookery sessions, to name just two. I hope that the Tesco maintenance team appreciate exactly how much opportunity that they have given to the people who attend the hub. No doubt, kindness has a ripple effect, the results of which we may never see.

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Social Services & Health, Councillor Jane Gebbie