Grow-Evolve-Thrive

Help the local community ‘GET’ involved with heritage with Grow-Evolve-Thrive (GET)! 

Abbotsford uses the unique built, natural and literary heritage of Abbotsford that is in our care as a catalyst for local people to improve their lives but funds are running out. 

The pandemic has had a severe impact on the wellbeing of people across the Borders especially those already facing disadvantage and challenges with mental health.  Young people leaving school report low confidence, reduced self-esteem and communication challenges.  Adults with mental health challenges find healthy, fulfilled lives even harder to achieve, and it has worsened social isolation, poor health and reduced activity amongst retirees.

 The Abbotsford Trust’s community engagement work has a crucial part to play in the local area in addressing these issues.

Help community wellbeing through heritage engagement  

The Abbotsford Trust’s GET campaign - Grow-Evolve-Thrive – invites you to support life-changing opportunities for young people and adults.  All existing funding for this work ends imminently, and as the impact of the pandemic continues to resonate and the cost-of-living crisis hits home, it is imperative that Abbotsford continues this work.  We know that times are tough, but could you help? Every £1 makes a difference. 

With your help we can support: 

Grow – Disadvantaged young people to move on to positive destinations through volunteering, employability and personal skills development 

Evolve – Adults and young people to volunteer, including those who would not normally consider heritage to be ‘for them’ 

Thrive – The wellbeing of adults with mental health difficulties through volunteering, employability and personal skills development 

At the heart of this work is our desire to use the unique built, natural and literary heritage of Abbotsford as a catalyst for local people to improve their lives. We believe that the heritage in our care can make a significant contribution to people’s health and happiness, as well as the sustainable growth and recovery of the Borders.  Scott himself wrote candidly about his experience of the “mulligrubs” (what would be understood today as depression) and his coping strategies, including spending time with friends and family, working in the outdoors, walking and being in nature. We are inspired by Scott’s own experience and the parallels between his life and the challenges so many people face today.  

“It has kept me sane during the epidemic – one of the best things I ever did” Abbotsford volunteer 

We need your help to continue this work 

Abbotsford needs to raise £200,000 to continue to offer these ways of supporting people’s wellbeing through their engagement with Abbotsford’s heritage.  Existing funding will run out very soon. Without your help we cannot continue to run the existing volunteering and Thrive programmes let alone expand these to support disadvantaged young people to engage with heritage. 

Your help is crucial. Donations* of all sizes make a difference to people’s lives and enable them to access the heritage in our care.  A donation of:  

• £20 would support a young person to be involved in the New Shoots programme 
• £100 would open up volunteering to one person for a whole year by subsidising travel expenses  
• £500 would enable us to pay for all of the materials to support a disadvantaged young person on the New Shoots programme for six months 
• £1,500 would cover all of the running costs of the Thrive mental health programme for two months 

*Fundraising, payments and donations will be processed and administered by the National Funding Scheme, operating as DONATE, a charity registered in England and Wales (1149800) and Scotland (SC045106). In addition to any text donation, you will incur your standard network message charge (based on your service provider rates). For Terms & Conditions, see www.easydonate.org

The Abbotsford Trust needs to raise funds for this and for other charitable purposes.