Green-fingered community champions in Scarborough are celebrating the launch of an innovative seed hub taking residence in the town’s library.
Voluntary group GROW Scarborough is leading the venture, whereby residents are offered free seeds to grow their own food, herbs, and flowers.
The aim is to cultivate resilience through sustainable local food growing and sharing, with the help of resources in the library and an online app.
GROW Scarborough spearheads a community garden which offers a tranquil space for volunteers to tend to plants, grow food and help wildlife to thrive.
Darren Mancrief, its founder and co-chairman, said: “As a group, we want to bring our community closer together and to create resilience through food security. A large part of that vision is helping and encouraging our community to grow food for themselves and to share with others.
“The seed hub will allow locals to get hold of free vegetable, herb, and flower seeds to take home, grow and enjoy. They can also donate seeds to the hub, which is integral to its success.
“We think the hub will be a real asset to our community. We couldn’t be happier to have found a fantastic location at Scarborough Library, especially with its large selection of books and online articles available.”
During the library’s opening hours, people can visit the hub to book seeds out to grow at home or donate seeds for others to use.
There will be resources in the hub for growing and seed saving, as well as an extensive collection of books and resources in the main library itself and online.
Our executive member for libraries, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “Scarborough’s seed hub is an exciting collaborative project to empower community members to grow their own food by offering free seeds.
“The initiative first launched online and proved a huge success. It’s great to see the library offer an accessible base, and once again proves they are so much more than books.
“The hub will be a huge asset to the community. Growing your own food can save you money, reduce waste and support local wildlife.”
Cllr Liz Colling, who represents the Falsgrave and Stepney division on the council, provided £300 of her locality budget to GROW Scarborough. A total of £200 has been spent on the seed hub, with the rest for its community garden at The Street venue.
“I was delighted to put some of my locality budget to getting the seed hub at the library up and running,” said Cllr Colling.
“It will complement the activities they hold at the community garden, where volunteers can tend to plants and food, which boosts mental health and wellbeing.
“The hub is all about sharing what we have with those in our community. As a keen vegetable grower, I shall be making use of the seeds available and donating others. I would urge everyone in the area to get involved and support this worthwhile venture.”
Cllr Janet Jefferson, who represents the Castle division, added: “Our library is at the heart of the local community so it’s great to multi-purpose an already well-used building.
“The hub will support a network of growers that save and donate seeds. The project is sure to become a community asset as we encourage people to get closer to nature.”