Exciting News about our Community Garden

Exercise, Health and Nutrition / Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / 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

Celebrating Stanley / December 16th, 2025

"Stanley's Superhero" Poem - South Stanley Junior School

This poem was created by Drew, Robert, Byron, Livy and Imogen, Year 6 pupils at South Stanley Junior School as part of our 'Celebrating Stanley' project.

Wellbeing and the Arts / December 19th, 2022

Travelling Home for Christmas | Robson Laidler Christmas Video 2022 - Featuring Building Self-Belief CIO

The Building Self-belief team were delighted to be invited to take part in the Robson Laidler Christmas video, which this year is a parody of Chris Rea’s 'Driving Home for Christmas' video, with a sustainability theme. We performed along with the County Durham Community Foundation and Oases Housing. Please enjoy the video, and feel free to share it!

Youth Social Action / September 27th, 2025

Wellbeing and the Arts / September 27th, 2025

Celebrating Stanley / September 27th, 2025

Oxhill Nursery School Green Leaders Project

The ‘Oxhill Green Leaders’ project involved twenty five children from Oxhill Nursery School, in Stanley on a across the spring and summer of 2025.The sessions enabled the young people to become ‘Green Leaders’ and actively engage in ecology and sustainability based activities. We were also delighted that the success of the programme was recognised by the award of a Silver Medal from 'Northumbria in Bloom'.