Shipley Social Enterprise is nominated as Garden Centre Charity of the Year

As Mental Health Awareness Week continues, a Shipley based charity that helps people, across Bradford, recovering from mental health problems to get back into work is set to gain from the generosity of a Bradford Garden Centre’s customers and staff.

Staff at Tong Garden Centre have announced that The Cellar Trust will be its Charity of the Year for 2016-2017.

The team at Tong aims to raise ?10,000 for the charity that that help people develop skills and self-confidence through a series of fund-raising events and collection boxes at the tills.

The Charity of the Year initiative came from Jo Dales, Tong Garden Centre’s Marketing Manager: “We’re at the heart of the community here at Tong and we wanted to support a local charity that makes a real difference to the lives of local people.? We became aware of what great work the Trust does when we employed former Cellar Trust client Dion Magyar, who is now a very valued member of the team.

“We’re delighted to be able to support the Trust’s great work in helping people on their journey to recovery and to help them to raise the funds they need to offer this valuable service. As a garden centre first and foremost, we are particularly looking forward to supporting the Trust’s horticultural Skill Shop.”

Kim Shutler Jones, CEO of The Cellar Trust is delighted with Tong’s support: “We currently have two clients, John and Sheila on work placements at Tong and Dion was recently taken on following a successful placement. That Tong is able to support us with work experience is great in itself, but the fact that the team want to help with fundraising too is just amazing. They are a brilliant example of a local business making a big difference to people in their local community. We’re very grateful and are really looking forward to working with Jo and the team.”

The Cellar Trust is a charity that provides support to people recovering from mental health problems in the Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven areas.?The team provides people with tailored support to help them move forward and improve their mental health and wellbeing, in a way that complements any additional support they are receiving through other services. The Trust is located in an old stone school building that is home to its popular caf?/catering academy. It also operates a charity shop in Shipley town centre.

Tong Garden Centre’s 2015-16 Charity of the Year was Martin House Hospice.

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 17 acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire’s biggest garden centres with 110,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 1,000 cars.