Bensham Bites

In 2024 and 2025 Bensham Bites brings together various growing projects, both existing and new, into one network to explore community food growing, nutrition benefits and growing for health and wellbeing. Through collaboration and by sharing knowledge, training opportunities, and resources for the benefit of the community it will strengthen the network and commuity cohesion. Some of the groups are in the early stages of creating a garden or allotment, whilst others have established green spaces, with varying levels of experience and knowledge. We will support those on low income suffering from food poverty and use the local food bank; explore the health and wellbeing benefits of growing and eating healthly; and growing and sharing food from different cultures. We will concentrate on the following themes:

• Food growing
• Food preservation
• Food rescue
• Food redistribution

Alongside Dingy Butterflies the partnership includes:

Barbara Keating: Artist and beekeeper whose creative practice explores food preservation and its connection to how bees preserve and store food and our own food traditions.

Gateshead Food Partnership: a collaboration of organisations looking at a joined up, whole system approach to make nutritious, culturally appropriate, and environmentally sustainable food affordable and accessible for everyone in Gateshead.

Bensham Court Tenants and Residents Association: The resident association of an older peoples council owned tower block who have recently taken on the land surrounding the block and includes an area to develop an allotment for the benefit of the tenants.

The Comfrey Project: a community organisation for refugees and people seeking asylum, who run an established allotment and growing training site.

Herb Hub: a Big Local project that work with local communities, to cultivate herbs with recognised benefits on mood and memory with an allotment site.

An Orthodox Jewish group for young women with learning difficulties who have recently taken on an allotment site.

The project will lead on a series of workshop around the four themes of growing, preserviing rescue and redistribution and research how we can make the work we are doing more sustainable and have a long term impact.