From a derelict site in 1982, Roots and Shoots has grown to become a well-established and respected vocational training organisation with biodiverse wildlife gardens, offering a safe haven for both people and nature to flourish.
2011 - UNESCO Man & Biosphere award
In 2011 Roots and Shoots was awarded the ‘UNESCO Man and the Biosphere UK award’ for our impact on the local environment and our work with disadvantaged communities. Roots and Shoots was described as:
“An outstanding and imaginative programme promoting in depth understanding of sustainable development combined with a wildlife garden that is a place of peace and beauty for deprived multicultural communities.”
2012 - Linda Phillips MBE
In 2012 Linda Phillips, Roots and Shoots Founder and Director, was awarded an MBE for her contribution to the lives of young people and involvement with the local community.
2013 Roots and Shoots Graduate Featured in the Sunday Telegraph
In 2013 Roots and Shoots graduate Ricky Downey Hollamby was featured in the Sunday Telegraph, with the article highlighting the positive change in his life and a new passion for gardening since joining Roots and Shoots.
2013 Chelsea Flower Show
In 2013 Roots and Shoots was invited by plant nursery Pennard Plants to collaborate with them on their RHS Chelsea Flower Show stand, for which we won a Gold medal and was featured in the Sunday Telegraph as a highlight of the show.
Pennard Plants is a heritage vegetable seed and plant nursery based in Somerset which Roots and Shoots befriended from other plant fairs, and which took part in our Open Days. The theme of the 2013 Chelsea Flower Show was “100 Years Of Grow Your Own”, so we created a split garden showing an Edwardian vegetable garden, and a modern Roots-inspired sustainable community garden 100 years later, with a faux graffitied brick wall, recycled water tank planters and potatoes grown in Lidl shopping bags.
Read more about our 2013 Chelsea Flower Show Presentation on our Blog.
2014 Chelsea Flower Show
Following the success of the first Chelsea Flower Show with Pennard Plants, Roots and Shoots collaborated again in 2014. The 2014 Chelsea theme was the beginning of the First World War, and so our stand was called ‘The Gardeners Go To War’, inspired by drafted gardeners who became soldiers. The garden was split in half to show the garden before the war when it was well-kept, and during the war where the gardeners had been drafted together in a ‘Pals Battalion’ and the garden became wild. The display was awarded a Silver Gilt medal.
To tell the story of the diverse gardeners, Roots and Shoots collaborated with a group of young filmmakers to create a period-style film, which was exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show stand, and later was shown in film festivals, on Big Screens and at a National Trust festival. The film was shown to over 300,000 school pupils across the UK as an introduction to WW1.
Read more about our 2014 Chelsea Flower Show Presentation and film on our Blog.
2014 New Access to High Needs Funding
In 2014, as part of the Children and Families Act, a new system for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities was introduced in England - Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP). This new system enabled Roots and Shoots to access additional funding to support its students’ vocational training. This allows students to remain in educational training at Roots and Shoots or other providers until the summer after their 25th birthday.