Wolves Lane is Recruiting for three new posts……

A Shop and Retail Manager //

A Grants and Communication Officer //

An Events Coordinator//

About Wolves Lane Centre: Wolves Lane Centre is a thriving community hub in Wood Green, dedicated to sustainable growing, education, social enterprise, and community engagement. The centre aims to develop and distribute wholesome food, foster the local food economy through education and enterprise, and promote a healthier, more sustainable food culture in the area. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery and the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund, we are undertaking a major site redevelopment, and work to ensure Wolves Lane’s long-term sustainability as a vibrant community space. 

Wolves Lane Consortium is a partnership of community organisations led by The Ubele Initiative and OrganicLea. With thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting our work.

To organise a site visit or ask any further questions please contact Denise – jobs@wolveslane.org full Job descriptions and how to apply in the links below.

Diversity-Monitoring-Form

Hiring Two Growing Apprenticeships 18-25y/o

Are you part of the next generation of food growers? Looking to develop your skills and hands on experience in a sustainable and diverse environment? Be part of an operational food growing and horticultural centre in the heart of North London?

We are delighted to be able to recruit two paid apprentice growers 18-25y/o at the Wolves Lane Centre, to work with the various growers and groups on site to get work-based training in small-scale commercial growing, as a first step in their career in food growing. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, neurodivergent, people from BPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities, and intersections therein, as they are under-represented in the horticulture/farming sector.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Organic produce is grown at Wolves Lane and our satellite site Pasteur Gardens, both outside and under glass. Different parts of the site are operated by different groups with the produce distributed to the Wolves Lane cooking project, to a local produce stall, to restaurants, and for local sale.  

For this apprentice post, we are looking for someone interested in pursuing a livelihood as a food grower or landworker, and seeking to gain the skills and experience to further this aim. You will be supported by our on-site Community Educator but will have the opportunity to work across the various growing projects at Wolves Lane and tailor your work experience according to your particular interests. Apprentices will work together, as well as being primarily hosted by our Wolves Lane Lead Grower, and growers from Black Rootz, a black-led antiracist enterprise, specialising in growing diaspora crops.

Salary: London Living Wage £11.95 per hour

Hours: 3 days per week, 7 hour days, ideally Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Employment period: 30 weeks (until end of November 2023).

Responsible to: Wolves Lane Consortium board.  

Closing date for applications: Midnight 16th April 2023

Interviews to be held on: 26th April 2023, for 1 hour. Interviews will be held in person at Wolves Lane Centre, N22 5JD. Finalists will then be invited for a paid trial day.

MAIN APPRENTICESHIP OBJECTIVES

  • To learn about and assist with all aspects of planting, growing and maintaining produce sustainably in an urban setting
  • To learn about and assist with all aspects of harvesting, preparing, and selling produce
  • To learn how to provide support for volunteers  
  • To participate fully in the Apprenticeship Programme and commit to share learnings with the next round of Apprentices.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Trainees will learn all aspects of running our urban growing project and horticulture centre by:

  • Assisting the grower on site 3 days a week, split between our Wolves Lane Lead Grower and the growers at Black Rootz.
  • Work closely with the Wolves Lane Growers to learn all aspects of running the glasshouses, outdoor beds and composting systems. This might include seed sowing, potting on, planting out, weeding, watering, harvesting, making compost, record keeping, supporting distribution of veg, and any other associated tasks on site.
  • Harvesting produce to the agreed methods, ensuring quality control and preparing and packing produce according.  
  • Supporting and supervising volunteers.
  • Gaining experience supervising the workday and harvest when the grower is absent.

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

Skills, Knowledge, Ability, Commitments  

Desirable

  • A demonstrable interest and passion for sustainable and socially diverse food growing and production, horticulture and landwork
  • One season’s experience of volunteering or working on a food growing site or garden
  • Happy and able to work mainly outdoors throughout the year 
  • Excellent listening and time management skills
  • Demonstrable experience of performing physical work with pressure to deliver 
  • Experience of volunteering or working in a diverse community setting 
  • Knowledge or direct experience of the local community near Wolves Lane
  • Ability to carry out shared tasks and work effectively within a team  
  • Ability to supervise and explain tasks to other clearly and with compassion
  • Experience of paid employment in horticulture or a structured placement in horticulture 
  • Level 1 or 2 horticultural qualification or equivalent 
  • Can demonstrate clearly why this apprenticeship is right for you

HOW TO APPLY

Please read the role description and person specification below.

To apply, please send the following to jobs@wolveslane.org, with ‘Apprentice Grower and _YOUR NAME_’ in the email title:

  •  Your CV (or statement of your work/volunteer history) 
  • A cover letter or a video, letting us know how you think your skills, interest and experience makes this apprenticeship right for you. 
  • Completed equalities monitoring form

We welcome applications from you even if you feel you don’t fulfil every element of the person specification.

For any questions or further information, please email education@wolveslane.org 

____________________________________________________________

DIVERSITY MONITORING

Wolves Lane Consortium is committed to eliminating discrimination encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. We will not discriminate with reference to age, gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, religion, marital status, and disability.  To help ensure our recruitment process is fair and equitable, we collect diversity data from applicants to our roles, using the separate equalities monitoring form. 

Data Protection Note

Any personal data you provide (e.g., address, telephone number, employment history) will be used for recruitment purposes only, and only shared with individuals involved in the recruitment process.

We received National Lottery funding to develop a community food hub

Since April we have been part of the Covid-19 emergency response providing cooked meals for distribution in the local area. This service has been complimented by our own food growing activity where fresh, healthy and culturally appropriate produce is being grown and distributed in the local area to schools food parcel programmes, youth clubs and food hubs, as well as into our meal service. We also want to empower people to grow some of their own food – it not only means you can pick your own super fresh food but also helps you feel more connected to nature and the seasons, and learn new skills, which has a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing. 

Recently, we received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to continue building on our emergency food provision and strengthening our community links using food as the connector, offering plants and growing support to other community groups and individual residents. 

Our project aims to:

  1. Grow food and plants to support communities likely to food insecurity as a direct result of COVID-19.
  2. Provide training and skills development in food growing that empower local people and improve health and wellbeing.
  3. Develop a community food hub that supports local food enterprise, scaling up of local food production, and uses food as a connecting tool to help rebuild and support community resilience during the Covid-19 emergency.

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest funder of community activity in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people.  

We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

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Have your say about the future of the Wolves Lane Centre!

The Wolves Lane Consortium is in the process of developing the Wolves Lane Garden and Horticultural Centre into a community hub.

Our vision for Wolves Lane is a thriving centre for growing and distributing wholesome food and a space for the local food economy to develop through education, enterprise, and events, making good food accessible to all and building a healthier, more sustainable food culture in the area.

We will be developing the Wolves Lane site into a community hub that facilitates and serves the local community of Wood Green and the wider community of London. New buildings and landscapes are being proposed to allow the Wolves Lane Consortium to grow: to better facilitate community use, food production, and education. They include a community hall, classrooms, office space, storage, and a workshop, as well as a forest classroom, a working yard, well-being and edible planting, outdoor space for events, and new entrance canopies. The existing buildings will be refurbished, with solar panels and rainwater collection extended, and a production kitchen.


The current proposal –   https://wolves-lane-futures.squarespace.com/vision

Timeline of anticipated planning submission, approval, construction –   https://wolves-lane-futures.squarespace.com/whats-next

It’s important that we hear from the local community, please complete our survey about   Wolves Lane Market City Survey 


Do you have any further questions? Please join us on Thursday 20th August @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm for an online Q&A with the Paloma Gormley,   Practice Architecture, and Pedro Gill,   Studio Gil the architects leading on the redesign of the Wolves Lane Garden and Horticultural Centre. Register via   Eventbrite

Fabulous Funding News

In March we nervously awaited the outcome of a major piece of work undertaken by the Wolves Lane Consortium, a bid to the GLA’s Good Growth Fund.

Organiclea have been awarded £1.2 million from the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund that will see our vision of a “Market Garden City” come to life.

The funding will be divided between Organiclea’s Chingford site and the Wolves Lane Centre to create new facilities that will support both sites to thrive as vital pieces of community infrastructure in London. The project will renew the dilapidated facilities and develop a thriving community hub for sustainable food growing, food distribution, healthy eating and cooking, and nature connection through volunteering, training, employment and enterprise.

Architects Pedro Gil and Paloma Gormley have been working closely with us on our plans for the new facilities, which will provide a crucial example of low-impact construction techniques and materials that can be delivered at scale, which the construction industry urgently needs to adapt to in the face of the climate emergency.

We’re excited to set a powerful precedent for the integration of community and green space in London, starting in Waltham Forest and Haringey. Watch this space as we share our plans as they take shape through the coming year.

Will will be carrying out more consultation on this stage of the development over the summer months. For now you can read details of the funding and plans here

Planting through a Pandemic: how COVID-19 affected Wolves Lane and what’s happening on site

growing cooking

Since March when the lock down started horticultural workers were identified as key workers. To ensure growers could focus on growing during the important spring season we introduced new site protocols to keep them safe. Sadly this has meant access to the site is restricted and our regular volunteering programme and access by the public suspended. The lockdown has created lots of challenges for our growers with plans overturned and big changes in demand as well as seeing those most in need in our local communities struggling under the lock down. The growers and groups at Wolves Lane have risen to the challenges and we are really proud to see such quick creative responses.
Here’s a summary  ……….

  • Cooked meals for local people in need – In April we recruited a small volunteer team including two local chefs to make good use of the kitchen at Wolves Lane to cook and distribute cooked meals each week
  • Standing up for BAME communities – Ubele, have been doing some amazing work leading a petition and coalition demanding an independent public inquiry into the disproportionately high coronavirus death rates in BAME communities. Read this Guardian article about it
  • Blackrootz have extended their growing on site and along with other growers are working on plans to grow emergency crops to feed local people in need
  • Crop Drop have adapted quickly to meet a surge of new customers desperate for fresh fruit and veg at the same time losing a lot of their drop points
  • Edible London geared up quickly to distribute emergency food in the borough, soon outgrowing Wolves Lane. They have partnered with Haringey Council to distrubute food via the Haringey Food Hubs in Tootenham stadium and Alexandra Palace
  • The Flower Company facing cancelled summer events and with a large crop of flowers growing, started selling and delivering locally including supplying the big demand from local florists who struggled to find stock
  • And to meet the surge in demand for plants and help raise money to maintain the site we are starting to sell some plants grown on site.

COVID-19 Meal Project

emergency food project

After lockdown happened, we adapted our community kitchen project to respond to Haringey’s emergency food response. Crop Drop has been collaborating with the Wolves Lane Centre to run a COVID Meal Project.

We’re cooking up nutritious meals and donating them to a local partners who are distributing the food to people that have been hit hardest by the pandemic.

We’ve assembled a small team of local volunteer chefs and food preppers who give up 1 day a week and produce 100+ meals each week for distribution by Homes for Haringey and the Tottenham Stadium Food Hub to people that need it the most, such as the elderly, women’s refuges and families unable to cope with the financial strain of this lockdown. Surplus food from The Felix Project plus organic produce grown on site at Wolves Lane is being transformed into satisfying meals.

Crop Drop customers have contributed over £400 in donations to help us pay for the additional costs of equipment and ingredients. We’re hoping to keep this going for a while – this unprecedented need for food is not going to disappear overnight even when the ‘lockdown’ is fully lifted. Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre would like to carry on growing and cooking food to help those in our local community experiencing difficulties during these times. We’re launching a crowd fund soon so watch this space!

Wolves Lane Consultation

Wolves Lane Consortium is undertaking a consultation process to inform the development of its’ 3 acre site.

The link below provides access to some very early stage thoughts; an invitation to our consultation evening on Tuesday 24th September and a short questionnaire.

We hope you will be able to join us next week to meet one of the architects and some of the centre supporters.

https://www.ubele.org/news/2019/9/18/bring-your-views-on-the-future-development-of-wolves-lane-centre

Wolves Lane goes solar!

In July this year the Wolves Lane Centre community celebrated the installation of solar panels.

On 20th July this summer, site users and volunteers at Wolves Lane held a celebration of their newly installed solar panels. This was the culmination of a huge effort to raise the funds and install the panels to make the Wolves Lane site more sustainable. Local food growing and energy generation will play an important part in our move to a low carbon future.

The panels will generate electricity for use on site. It is a 12.4 kiloWatt hour peak system and since installation has generated 5.27 megaWatt hours and saved just over 2,000 kilogrammes of carbon emissions (equivalent to planting 7 trees). Most of the electricity will be used in the Palm House, where water pumps use a lot of energy. The installation work was carried out for free by a local resident who runs solar installation company Drakes Renewables. There are 31 panels on two roofs and it is an innovative installation using 400 W panels imported from Canada.

The money for the panels was raised through a crowdfund run by Spacehive for the Mayor of London’s office. The panels were paid for by local residents (including members of the Friends of Wolves Lane) and local rap artist Jhus. Generous donations from the Mayor of London and Haringey Council will add to the project by paying for insulation materials and fees for legal and electrical work.

Wolves Lane Plant Centre https://wolveslane.org/, was formerly the plant nursery for Haringey Council. The site is still owned by Haringey Council and is leased to the Wolves Lane Consortium (Organiclea, Crop Drop and the Ubele Initiative) and is growing a huge harvest of local food that supports a local veg bag scheme (Crop Drop, https://www.cropdrop.co.uk/), a London restaurant (Ottolenghi), food for homeless people (Edible London, https://ediblelondon.weebly.com/ ) and Black Rootz . Local not-for-profit Wolves Lane Flower Company also rent space onsite (https://www.wolveslaneflowercompany.com/ ).

For more details please contact Pamela Harling pjharling@hotmail.com.

Wolves Lane classroom roof

Wolves Lane boiler house roof

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