Project Description

At SIG Penrose Roots (Roots), we know there is more to community gardening than simply growing plants—we help create transformational change for the people who need it most.

 

Roots is our award-winning green community-based recovery service, supporting over 600 people annually across Luton and Bedfordshire. Through therapeutic growing spaces, sustainability workshops, and peer-support groups, we provide accessible platforms for people facing isolation and complex health challenges to rebuild their lives.

 

Roots brings people together, nurturing friendships, community, and the natural environment. Members develop confidence, skills, and progress on their recovery journeys—whether through volunteering, finding purpose and employment, or simply gaining the tools to live more independently.

 

For many people, attending Roots is their only opportunity to socialise, lead activities independently, and build long-term meaningful connections.

 

Roots members have lived experience of social isolation, trauma, mental ill-health, substance use, learning disabilities, or involvement with the criminal justice system who often fall through the gaps in other support services. Through flexible, non-clinical support, we empower them to create lasting change for themselves and their local community.

 

Your support ensures we can continue this life-changing work.

Supported By

Recent Recognition

How We Create Change

Roots offers multiple projects across three sites in Luton, providing diverse opportunities that make a real difference to people’s lives:

  • Access to Nature

    Our one-acre garden provides healing opportunities in a natural environment, where members learn to grow fresh produce for the local community, including food banks.

  • Skills Development

    From horticultural training and sustainable woodworking to bike repair and recycling in partnership with the Youth Offending Service, members develop practical skills that boost their employability and confidence.

  • Community Connection

    Our weekly social groups create a welcoming space for friendship and creativity, supported by peers with similar lived experiences.

  • Holistic Support

    Our range of non-clinical support, training programmes, and workshops give members practical life skills and enhance their wellbeing.

  • Environmental Action

    Members can become environmental stewards, contributing to local conservation work, maintaining public green spaces and building community gardens.

  • Personal Empowerment

    Members have complete choice and control over their support journey, actively co-designing projects using their lived experience to shape our service and how we deliver it.

Benefits to the Community

Roots delivers significant value across Luton and Bedfordshire, serving as a vital community resource that strengthens individual lives and neighbourhoods.

 

As a key partner in green social prescribing, we receive hundreds of referrals yearly from mental health trusts, GPs, and community support groups. Our commitment to early intervention helps reduce the burden on NHS services and prevents costly crisis interventions, making a real difference.

 

Our members are catalysts for change, transforming deprived areas through conservation work, sustainable growing, and community engagement. Since 2021, they have invested over 2,700 hours into environmental projects, creating eight neighbourhood pocket gardens, and donating more than 125 refurbished bicycles to those in need.

 

At Roots, we are deeply committed to environmental stewardship. We ensure every material is reused or recycled in our sustainable gardening practices or therapeutic art projects. We embrace circular economy principles, transforming scrap and landfill materials into valuable resources for the community, and revitalising underserved areas into green, productive spaces that feed the community.

 

We also serve as a vital local food resource, empowering people to make informed choices about food and nutrition. Together, we have cultivated and donated 84% of our fresh produce to local food banks, tackling food poverty in an area where 60% of households face food insecurity.

 

Every donation to Roots sparks a ripple effect of positive lasting change, building resilience that benefits entire communities.

  • Transforming lives year on year

    Every year, we deliver over 1,000 sessions and 100+ workshops, six days a week, to support over 600 people across Luton and Bedfordshire to progress from isolation to independence.

  • Proven results

    All Roots members report forming new friendships, with 94% noting improved mental health and 78% experiencing better physical health. These aren’t just statistics – they represent real people whose lives have been transformed through our nature-based community support.

  • Your support is urgently needed

    With mental health services overwhelmed and day centres closing due to rising costs, demand for Roots has never been higher. We rely entirely on fundraising to keep our green spaces and groups open for people who have nowhere else to turn.

What Our Particpants Say

“I have nothing but praise for the Roots team. Luton needs a project like Roots, especially during these difficult times when so many people need help, I could not imagine a Luton without Roots!”

 

Cecilia, member since 2021

 

Read more members’ stories and data in our annual Impact Report and see how your support creates lasting change in people’s lives and communities.

Roots Impact Report Go To Our Fundraising Page

Get in touch

1 Waterloo Gardens London N1 1TY

Telephone : 020 3668 9270

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