We have recently been successful in applying for a number of grants for the Edible Garden Project, The HOME Allotment and for our partnership work with Bridport Food Matters.
This is the penultimate year in the life of the Ernest Hecht Charitable Trust. Ernest was a publisher, producer and philanthropist. Born in 1929 in Czechoslovakia, the son of clothing manufacturers Richard and Annie Hecht, Ernest Hecht arrived in Britain as a Kindertransport (Jewish refugee) child in 1939. He started Souvenir Press in 1951 and successfully built the business up and ran the company for more than six decades.
Set up in 2003, the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation had the aim of providing financial and practical assistance that can "making a difference to people's lives". The Foundation supports the work of other charitable organisations in helping the disadvantaged and promoting the advancement of the arts and education by making grants, with the aim of making a difference in a particular field.
Since the foundation of the Edible Garden at St Mary’s and then Bridport Primary School’s garden, EHCT has supported this work. Firstly, by helping us establish the gardens including the polytunnels and then with new projects every year for the last 10 years.
Ernest died in 2018 and in 2025 the charitable trust will finally be closed. This year the Board of Trustees of EHCT were incredibly generous enabling us to start to replace and repair 10 years of wear and tear of the Edible Garden at St Mary’s, a new shed, new poly tunnel skins, the creation of a pond at St Mary’s to help with the flooding and nature exploration, a new pizza oven and multiple other projects, tools, soil and seeds. For Bridport Primary School there will be a pizza oven, events, workshops etc., over the next two years.
We will be thanking the Trustees for their support at the St Mary’s Children’s Food and Art Fair. As a team who have felt incredibly supported in our work in developing the gardens, it hasn’t always been easy, there have been illnesses, Covid and other struggles but we feel we have built a relationship with our schools, through the gardens and with the support of Ernest Hecht Charitable Trust, amongst others, this will continue for years to come.
We also very much appreciate the support of Dorset Council who have provided funding to this partnership through HOME to work towards the food security and community engagement of all the work that needs to be done to ensure equality of knowledge and access to skills required for the town’s survival in the future.
We want to thank Kitson & Trotman, of Bridport for their continuing and long term support of the Edible Garden. It is this kind of help that helps a project in the long term and when real change can be made. It becomes part of the community.
Finally, an Awards for All grant for the HOME in Bridport Allotment “An Open Gate”. This is to work towards 18 months of developing the allotment in the Princess Road Allotments to make it useful and accessible to the community with workshops, cookery classes, relaxed spaces for mothers and small children. Mitch is currently at the allotment every week between 3 and 5 so do drop in.
More on these projects shortly.
Thank you to the very special team of people who work on the Edible Garden Projects and who make sure that as many children as possible have access to the growing and harvesting of food, helping to develop their love of nature and to bring back outdoor play after our insular lives with Covid. Special thanks in particular to Sarah Wilberforce, the Edible Gardens Project Lead and to the support and imagination of Mrs Kate Batorska, Head of the School and her staff.