London,
04
January
2017
|
10:22
Europe/London

City Bridge Trust backs programme promoting locally grown produce and biodiversity in London

The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust, has awarded a grant of £91,000 to Somerset House Trust for a project promoting biodiversity by educating Londoners on locally grown produce and growing your own organic food.

Through collective growing, cooking and feasting, Edible Utopia hopes to explore the possibilities of food and give more Londoners a hands-on understanding of biodiversity. The grant will be used to cover the cost of an outreach manager for the Somerset House Edible Utopia Programme across London.

The programme, based in Westminster, also hopes to provide more young people with an understanding of the benefit of growing local food and its nutritional value. It will provide regular public talks and workshops on the subject of sustainability and biodiversity.

Somerset House Trust is a unique part of the London cultural scene. Over three million people will visit the site this year to experience the splendour of the architecture and enjoy the vibrant programme of activities.

Alison Gowman, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said:

“We are excited to be able to help a project that will engage the community in key environmental issues. It’s great to be able to fund such a unique and educational project that so many Londoners will be able to benefit from. City Bridge Trust is committed to supporting Londoners to make the city a fairer place to work and live. We are proud to have helped so many projects through the fund that are opening up incredible opportunities and enhancing lives.”

Jonathan Reekie CBE, Director of Somerset House, added:

“We are delighted that City Bridge Trust is supporting our Edible Utopia initiative here at Somerset House, which will expand on some of the ideas explored during our Utopia 2016 programme and support our commitment to sustainability. As the Edible Utopia programme unfolds, Londoners will have the opportunity to explore food production and our urban environment in new ways, to experience the benefits of food growing and to explore the hidden horticultural history of the site.”

City Bridge Trust is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.

The Trust has awarded around 7,500 grants totalling over £350 million since it first began in 1995.

It helps achieve the Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

ENDS

 

Media Enquiries

Kristina Drake

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

Kristina.Drake@cityoflondon.gov.uk

07710860884 / 020 7332 1125