28th February 2013

 

Walk 4 - Calstock to Cotehele Quay

 

Yesterday, we took the train from Plymouth to the small Cornish village of Calstock and walked along the river Tamar to Cotehele Quay. The group was a good mix of refugee learners and volunteers, writers, illustrators and support workers. we numbered 29 in total! which allowed lots of conversation to happen.

 

The walk was in two parts:

 

The first part, before lunch, was a gentle amble though the village and out to point upstream where we could join a raised footpath by the river that would take us back to the centre of the village. We passed lime kilns and found wild garlic or 'ramson' leaves to smell.

 

After a good lunch of 'fish and Chips', we walked the second part. This took us downstream to Cotehele Quay. The path was quite steep in places as it went through the woods. The views of Calstock were fantastic.

 

 

We then returned to Calstock to catch the train back to Plymouth.

 

  

 STARTwalking Community Event 

February 8th 2013

The community event was held at the Cultural Kitchen on 8th February.

We displayed information including maps and photographs of the three walks already walked, and details of the next walk planned for 28th February.

 

The following photgraphs are from the event:

 

It was informal and enjoyable with lots of talk about the countryside and the weather.

About 45 people looked at the display with many keen to come on walks in the summer...

The next walk:

Thursday 28th February

 

Calstock to Cotehele Quay

for a walk along the river

 

If you are interested in coming along and joining us

call START 01752 255200 by 27/02/13.

 Isaac, Susie and Janet

12th January 2013

 

Walk 3 - Burrator Reservoir

 

For this walk we joined our partner agency 'SW Lakes Trust' 

who took us on a walk around Burrator reservoir.

 

Their volunteers knew a lot of information about the area which added to the walk.

 

 

Unfortunately the weather was not very good and the paths were muddy.  We were, however, able to have lunch at Burrator Lodge so at least we were dry.

 

10th November 2012

 

Walk 2 - Yelverton to Tavistock

 

This time, our plan was to catch the bus to Yelverton

and walk along the new path to Tavistock. 

 

 

10 of us braved the cold to go on this journey.

The route was very interesting; from moorland, to woods,

over bridges and through an old railway tunnel!

 

 

This could be a good walk to do again in the summer...

 

 

20th October 2012

Walk 1 - Saltram House

 

 

I met START at the post office

and we all caught the bus out of the city centre.

 

 

 We went to Saltram and walked next to the river.

 

The weather was good...

Cultural Kitchen

A couple of weeks ago we had a cultural kitchen to mark the beginning of refugee week, within this time we organised for members of parliament to come and enjoy the cultural kitchen with us and others there.

We all had healthy halal meal which was prepared by our hardworking staff, we also celebrated refugee week. The activities we ran were facepainting and table tennis. We are running our last Cultural Kitchens of the year these are on the 13^th and 27^th of July.

Allotment Day

The START gardening, previously known as Cultivating communities, is a project we at START have set up and been running since 2005.

We directly run this as we believe having a place to think, reflect, escape and dream is important to all of us. If you are isolated in an unfamiliar country where you have little control or influence over what happens in your daily life; you may carry the burden of why you fled, who you left behind and the trauma of getting to the UK; such a breathing space can be vital. Through our Cultivating Communities - allotment project, situated on Central Park in Plymouth, we offer such a space.

We decided to give this project a real boost as it was coming up to the time where we wanted to get all of our plants in the ground. To do this we have recently held an Allotment day, with a BBQ. We ran this day on Thursday 5th July. During this time we all pitched in to help weeding and tidy the allotment. We braved the wet weather, and worked through to turn the earth and plant more vegetables and fruit in the ground. Once we had finished we had planted:

Onions

Strawberry

Marrow

Courgettes

Mint

Broad Beans

Runner Beans

Potatoes

Chillies

Sweet Peppers

Corn

Grapes

Aubergines

Rosemary

Artichokes

Rhubarb

Pumpkins

Red Cabbage

Cabbage

Purple Broccoli

Leeks

Parsnips

and Many more

We all had a fun day and got hands on with it all. Hopefully this year we will have a fruitful and bountiful harvest (if the slugs don't get there first)