Shropdoc teams up with the Rural Charity to offer fresh veg
Shropdoc has partnered with the Rural Charity to launch a grow project which will allow the team at its Shrewsbury site to access fresh vegetables while hopefully acting as a catalyst to encourage more people to take up the scheme.
It is hoped the project will help to raise awareness about the ease and cost-effectiveness of growing vegetables while also highlighting the benefits to general health and wellbeing.
The Rural Charity has funded the troughs that will be used to grow the vegetables and Dr Simon Chapple from Shropdoc will lead the ‘Growing Together’ project. It is hoped that other groups and businesses will sign up to the scheme.
Dr Chapple said: "I decided I wanted to grow vegetables and I set myself a challenge to grow something from A to Z, from asparagus to zucchini and I realised how easy it was to grow your own vegetables.
"We want to share the benefits of growing your own food - and of how to use and eat it. We will be starting off at Shropdoc with things that you can pick and eat, so when staff are on their lunch they can come and grab some salad from our own vegetable garden.
“A diet rich in fruit and vegetables is extremely important. It can help to prevent certain types of cancer, benefit blood sugar levels, and reduce the risk of a stroke and heart attack. Growing your own is also a cheaper option – something which is particularly significant at the moment with soaring food prices.”
Deborah Evans, a trustee of the Shropshire & West Midlands Agricultural Society behind the Rural Charity, said: “As a charity, we aim to promote agriculture in all its forms and being able to help launch this project, which encourages people to grow their own, gives people access to ‘homegrown’ food – which is fantastic.
“Our way to promote agriculture and rural life has always been to bring town and country together and it is great to see a large workplace encouraging a ‘grow your own’ ethos.”
The Rural Charity is an arm of the Shropshire & West Midlands Agricultural Society and is committed to supporting the local rural community through the provision of equipment, sponsorship, donations and support to individuals, groups and other organisations.
Shropdoc is a not-for-profit organisation which has been delivering high-quality primary healthcare for 25 years and today provides services for 600,000 patients across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Powys – dealing with more than 200,000 calls and 50,000 patients every year.
