A brilliant £8,500 has been raised at the Garden Gate Project Music Day on Saturday (July 23) which will go towards funding employment of a young person at the site.
The annual event held at the site near Northdown Park has grown since starting seven years ago and this summer generated the record-breaking sum for the Tim Mountford Memorial Fund,
The fund is in commemoration of the project’s dearly loved and much-missed founding team member Tim Mountford, who tragically died from Covid in April 2020.
Inspired by Tim’s tireless dedication to helping people from all walks of life to thrive and involvement with the government’s Kickstart Scheme, The Tim Mountford Memorial Fund will enable the Garden Gate to employ a trainee horticulturalist for 12 months.
Paul Boyce, Garden Gate Manager said: “The event went really well, all the bands were great. There was a song cycle organised by William Rees, Gadds donated beer and Julian from The Lifeboat donated the cider, a mystery person donated for our festival cups and the whole community really got involved. We could not do these things without the community and the brilliant volunteers running the stalls.
“The money goes into the find and once we reach £25,000 we will employ a young person for a year on a living wage. That will give a training opportunity to a young person to give them a head start.”
Founded in 1999, The Garden Gate Project provides a safe, creative, natural setting for adults with learning disabilities and/or mental health needs to engage in fun, meaningful health, educational, artistic, environmental and leisure opportunities that enhance their quality of life and offers social interaction.