A minute of your time, please

This local project is well worth minute of your time. Sunnyside Rural Trust, based in Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Northchurch, are looking for funding for solar panels to make their charity even more sustainable. It only takes a minute to register and vote.

Sunnyside Rural Trust has been operating as a charity for over 26 years. Our vision is for an inclusive community where all people are valued and enriched within a sustainable environment.

We provide adults with learning disabilities with work experience in horticulture, conservation and animal care. We support 130 adults with learning disabilities at our three beautiful sites; Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Northchurch in Hertfordshire.

Trainees grow fruit, vegetables and plants, which are sold in our farm shops, market stalls and veg boxes. The produce is also used in Sunnyside Up Café at Hemel Food Garden plus our veg box scheme.
Trainees care for 300 ex-battery hens at our site in Northchurch. Our happy hens roam freely in our orchards where they enjoy their retirement!

Sunnyside Rural Trust have long wished to add sustainable electricity production to our list of environmental achievements. The installation of solar panels will be a leap forward for the charity, enabling us to create our own electricity and generate income, which will be put back into the running of our charity. Plus it will encourage a greater awareness of the electricity usage amongst our employees and trainees. Installing solar panels will help us reduce our carbon footprint.

We use a large amount of electricity to heat up our greenhouses and staff communal areas. If we receive the funding this will enable us to heat the chicken coops during winter months.

Sunnyside Rural Trust aims to develop all three of our sites as a “green” focal point within the community, in turn enabling the charity to achieve more sustainability.