Exciting News about our Community Garden

Volunteering / Environmental / October 13th, 2023

Exciting News about our Community Garden

Building Self-Belief are delighted to be a new member of the the Social Farms and Gardens. We are in the final stages of securing our 25 year lease in Benfieldside Community Garden. Once this has been confirmed, we are ready to get going on what will be a fabulous transformation.

We Need Your Help

As a project we will need as much support as possible from the community.  As a community garden we want to create a fabulous space that people of all ages can contribute to and enjoy. There will be planters for growing food, and wildflower areas, some mature trees are already there. What we want to d is involve the community on how we redesign the space.

What underpins our purpose is that it is well known that gardening is so good for our physical and our mental health. In our area, many people only have back yards, therefore to have access to a garden is a brilliant new addition to their lives.

Here are some of the benefits to being involved in community gardening:

  • Outdoor gardening can help your body fight disease
  • Regular gardening builds strength, promotes sleep and helps maintain a healthy body weight
  • Gardening can help protect your memory as you get older
  • Gardening is a mood booster
  • Gardening calms you after a stressful event
  • Community gardens foster a feelings of connectivity
  • Gardening can five you a feeling of empowerment


We are open to suggestions about how the space is used, we are also happy for people to give up as much time as they can afford to help us get this project off the ground. If you would like to volunteer in the garden for us, please get in touch.

Volunteer for us

Wellbeing / May 7th, 2025

Fundraising / May 7th, 2025

Kye's Kick Off - Charity Football Match In Memory of Kye Cunnington

Kye's Kick Off was a charity football match on Tuesday 29th April at South Shields FC. The match was between Boldon School's Yr 9 VS Yr 11, in memory of much loved student, Kye Cunnington. The total amount raised for Teenage Cancer Trust was just over £4000!

Heritage / February 3rd, 2025

Designing a Steel Statue for Consett

On Tuesday 28th January, we hosted a fundraiser and design session to generate some ideas about what the community want the Ray Lonsdale statue to look like. We were very lucky to have renowned artist Ray Lonsdale with us, who gave a talk about his artistic journey and past designs, and answered all of our questions about his statues and how we should go about creating our own for Consett.

Environmental / December 17th, 2025

Benfieldside Community Garden Sensory Area Launch

A lovely day at Benfieldside Community Garden celebrating the launch of our new sensory area!A big thank you to Durham County Council Counillor's Terry and Kathryn Rooney for funding this area, your support is truly appreciated.We would also like to send our thanks to Benfieldside Primary School for joining us to celebrate.