A little over a year ago, the Moretonhampstead Development Trust launched a new strand of work dedicated to maintaining and protecting our local environment. Today, we’re delighted to announce that this strand has proven to be so closely connected to community health and wellbeing that it is now being formally absorbed into Wellmoor.
This means you’ll be seeing a lot more from Wellmoor championing local environmental initiatives, events, and opportunities for residents to get involved on both our social media and on our website. At the heart of this work is our Environmental Project Manager, Penny, whose dedication has driven a mountain of achievements, which we want to celebrate!
In only the past year, her work has led to opening a new path in the Moretonhampstead Community Orchard, creating a water meadow, and delivering an event-packed Great Big Green Week. Not to mention establishing The Environment Network (now connecting and updating over 100 people on environmental issues!), and working weekly with Year 6 pupils on the John Muir Award, encouraging them to be interested and learn about the environment around us. Work has also included environmental film nights, supporting the running of an Organic Gardening course, community presentations on different green topics, and the launch of Growing Dartmoor Futures – a project for young people seeking sustainability‑focused careers.
Penny’s efforts as Environmental Project Manager, along with the unwavering support of the wider community and volunteers, has strengthened partnerships across Dartmoor and Devon, coordinated orchard and meadow working parties, secured funding for new local tree planting, and supported a Repair Café to encourage reuse and waste reduction. The list of environmental achievements which has been made possible by this strand of work, alongside your support as a community, is truly never ending.
Penny’s work has laid strong foundations for the future, and we are so excited to continue building on this momentum as environmental projects become a bigger part of the Wellmoor vision. By bringing environmental work into the heart of our programme, we look forward to taking a new step in our mission to create opportunities for people to connect, and live happy and healthy lives.