CATH plans to grow hope in the garden

Jan 8 2009 by Johnathon Menzies, Blairgowrie Advertiser

AN East Perthshire charity is hoping to sew the seeds of success by expanding an ambitious garden project.

Churches Action for the Homeless (CATH) took over the Balhary walled garden, near Alyth, last January.

Vulnerable people gain skills by working on the one-acre site and the produce is used to cook meals in the charity’s day centre in Perth.

CATH are now looking into the possibility of producing jams and pickles from the garden and allowing increased access to visitors.

It is hoped the two ventures will create as many as 25 full and part-time jobs.

CATH chief executive, Kath Critchley, said: “We were fortunate to get our first harvest in August and October and, in fact, we still have leeks and beetroot in the ground.

“Also within the garden are some wonderful old historic fruit trees, apple trees, all manner of pears and we’ve had one peach tree too,” she said.

About 100 people a week are fed at CATH’s day centre, situated on the Fair City’s St Catherine’s Road, and approximately 16,000 hot meals are given out each year.

The majority of the people catered for are homeless or on the verge of being homeless.

Kath added that the overall aim of the project is about teaching those involved new skills.

She said: “Our people tend to come to us having been at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to getting a job, so the project is focused on work ethic, the idea that you turn up at certain times, you do a day’s work and you go home.

“It’s also about the horticultural skills – how do you plant a potato, how do you weed, how do you pick a raspberry?” she said.