Westden’s Mission Statement:
“Westden works with communities to find practical solutions to the inter-linked environmental, social and economic challenges in rural areas.”
Since its establishment in 1994, Westden has generated £4.7m to support more than 35 projects and set up a community-led sustainability process that attracted international attention. Projects included ‘Indicators for Sustainability’ to test progress on sustainability; ‘Involve’ which increased political awareness for young people; ‘Communities in Action’ which supported 134 community projects; and ‘Getting There’ which provided a scooter-loan service for young people and became the Devon-wide ‘Wheels 2 Work’ organisation. Westden has worked with most of the schools in West Devon on environmental, transport and other projects since 1994.
Westden has run two major training projects called ‘Ley of the Land’ and ‘Rural Skills’ and initiated the Tavistock Farmers’ Market (voted the ‘Best Farmers’ Market in the South West’).
Past funding has enabled two major successful projects which were used in many good practice guides and reports including Community Counts (Economics Foundation) and led to our involvement with the Cabinet Office and Defra.
Westden International has worked extensively with partners on projects and training across Europe and India.
Westden has received: the WWF/NatWest Award for the Indicators project; Green Initiatives Award which led to our involvement with organisations in India; the Times/NatWest Community Enterprise Award; the Charity Award 2000 for excellence in charity management; and the Guardian Charity Award 2002.
In 2008, after a period of consolidation, changes were made at Westden in line with changing priorities for local and international action on sustainability and the decrease in availability of funding. During 2009 Westden held a very successful two-day re-launch event called ‘An Event for the Environment’, which was attended by over 300 people and established the Transition Tavistock group. There was considerable support for the continuation of Westden’s work in promoting sustainability through projects and campaigns with a particular focus on food, the environment and climate change.
Westden continues to be an advocate for sustainability at the West Devon Borough Council’s Local Strategic Partnership, the Tavistock & Villages Development Forum (TaVi), the Tamar Valley AONB, the Chamber of Commerce, the Dartmoor Circle and other organisations.
Recently Westden initiated a forum called GrowTavi which has already started a garden-share scheme and is in the process of developing a Community Supported Agriculture project. Westden is assisting the National Trust with a community project and is liaising with other organisations to provide a community building in Tavistock.
Westden’s home is the town of Tavistock which is located on the west side of Dartmoor National Park in the District of West Devon. This historic market town is located around 45 miles west of Exeter and 15 miles north of Plymouth. We have an open-door policy so please feel free to drop in to share your ideas of what is needed in West Devon: 20 Plymouth Road, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8AY. Alternatively please call Max on 01822 618 715.
I have a 50 acre farm in North Devon (Torridge) and for the past 12 months have allocated aboout 5 acres to local people to grow fruit and vegetables and rear pigs and chickens. The produce is shared. I have received planning permission for polytunnels to be erected and have funded all this myself. However, the group wishes to develop and are considering the installation of a cold room to store meat that is produced on the farm and enquire whether you are able to offer any support financially or otherwise?
I look forward to your reply.
Thank you
Philip Wright
Philip,
Sorry for the delay in reply. Currently we cannot help financially because you are outside West Devon however I will place you on our mailing list and we can stay in touch to see if there is some skill and experience swapping we can do in the future.
Max