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Some examples of our achievements from the past few years include: 

Community hubs

In 2023 the Communities team ran 8 hubs across the district which had over 3,000 visits. Each week the hubsters enjoyed free refreshments and a cooked meal. Health and wellbeing was supported through workshops on seated exercise, easy cooking on a budget and budgeting.  The hubs aim to reduce social isolation, train and upskill community volunteers, provide kids activities in holidays and have fun!

FareShare

The FareShare project provides food support for people around the district by working with other food providers through the East Devon Food Hub, running a community larder on the Millwey estate and directing delivering food to tenants’ homes in Axminster and Honiton.

In 2012/22 we used 3.03 tonnes of food (which is over 7,000 meals) and saved 1.2 tonnes of Co2. All of this went directly to tenants in Axminster and Honiton.

The East Devon Hub, including other providers, used 26.34 tonnes (a whopping 62,715 meals!) and saved 10.5 tonnes of Co2.

Garden Competition

The Garden Competition made its much anticipated return in 2023 after a break during the pandemic.  34 individual gardens were entered, some with support from MSOs, and the judging happened during torrential rain in July with help from Becky Searle at Sow Much More.  Prize winners were invited to a celebration at Blackdown House in Honiton in October.

Projects requested by tenants

We completed several projects which were requested by tenants. 

More than 100 people enjoyed a free family funday marking the opening of the new crescent play area in Littleham.  Local children had been consulted on what equipment they would like in the new park then we celebrated with circus skills, giant games and ice cream.

A small patch of land on the Millwey estate was being used by local children to play football but wasn’t secure or level so, after consultation with local tenants, we put up a new fence and levelled the area.

Tenants in Wiltshier close identified several rewilding projects they would like in the green space outside their homes.  Having planted an orchard in 2022 we returned to plant a hedge supported by Broadclyst Environmental group and our Countryside team with free trees from Devon Wildlife Trust.