Staff from the Claydon social enterprise Growing Places are putting their well-used garden forks and hoes to another good use – by helping in a parkland conservation project.

Ipswich Star: Growing Places The gardening team help clear a bank at Holywells Park in Ipswich to encourage butterfliesGrowing Places The gardening team help clear a bank at Holywells Park in Ipswich to encourage butterflies (Image: Archant)

The Growing Places gardening team spend every Tuesday at Holywells Park, in Myrtle Road, Ipswich where they help park staff to clear overgrown vegetation, coppice woodlands and help conserve wildlife.

Normally they would be tending to their range of fresh vegetables - which are sold in veggie boxes to customers around Ipswich - but the team are enjoying their weekly trip to the park to tackle some challenging work.

Growing Places is part of the award winning Ipswich social enterprise Realise Futures specialising in growing and selling their produce from land at Hillview Business Park, off Old Ipswich Road in Claydon.

Assistant manager Andy Smuk, who belongs to the friends of Holywells Park volunteering group said: “The gardening team form a working party in collaboration with Ipswich Borough Council. The enterprise team are putting their good knowledge of horticulture and groundwork to good use by helping with conservation work, and have been doing this since mid-November.”

The team is led by superviser Mark Alred who said: “The team love getting involved in this work and helping the wildlife. This week we were helping to clear the undergrowth from an overgrown bank where, it is hoped, the team’s hard work and results will encourage more butterflies in the summer.”

Realise Futures specialises in helping people who are disabled and disadvantaged.

It is a specialist provider of employment support services, learning and development and the largest provider of careers advice services in the East of England.