Hambrook update (preperation for our haymaking day)

This week at Hambrook Marshes, we ran two volunteer days. These consisted of bench building and fencing and work continued on the riverside path linking Chartham and Hambrook Marshes.


Other work that has continued has been in preparation for the Haymaking Day being held at Hambrook Marshes on July 3rd, including advertising, ground plans, inviting stall holders and organisation of the raffle.

We hope to have a great turn out this year, and would love to see everybody interested in haymaking, local produce or simple a great fun day out in the sun attending.

Hambrook Marshes - Keeping up the hard work

The hard work continued this month on site at Hambrook Marshes. Emphasis on education allowed pollution studies to be conducted using invertebrates as indicators (discovered using pond dipping.) Other activities included chemical analysis of water courses— looking at pH, temperature and conductivity, vegetation identification, wild bird identification, small mammal trapping (this was however a theory based lesson) and guided walks. With practical projects continuing, stock fences were built and repaired and a wildlife box workshop was held. Work on willow structures continued and a new project started building benches from previously used timber. Scrub clearance also continued along with dam building, tool maintenance and green wood working.


All of the above projects allow Hambrook Marshes to boast its third sector status as a community based charity. Allowing volunteers and trainees to improve their employment prospects whilst working on a conservation project, which benefits the community.

Hambrook Marshes - Another Busy Month

Hambrook Marshes have had a very exciting month of progress and change, and have been able to utilise the natural materials found at the site to create structures and useful tools.


April has seen the arrival of a minibus, which was funded by Natural England (NE), who .provide practical advice, grounded in science, on how best to safeguard England’s natural wealth for the benefit of everyone.

Their remit is “to ensure sustainable stewardship of the land and sea so that people and nature can thrive. It is our responsibility to see that England’s rich natural environment can adapt and survive intact for future generations to enjoy.”

NE gave Hambrook Marshes £1,000 under their Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSEF), an incentive .to provide funds to tackle a wide range of problems in areas affected by the extraction of aggregates. The minibus will improve community use of the site by involving specialists who may have previously been unable to reach the site.

Work with Kent Council for Addiction and Kent Refugee Action Network continued, with aspirations of re-establishing work ethics, outdoor skills and team work. Activities to support these skills on site have included wood crafts, dam building and creating a structure out of locally grown willows.

The wood crafts included the creating of a chair made from wood collected on site. The process includes creating rough planks using a froe, which is a tool that splits wood down the end grain to create planks.

The creation of a willow structure will be a useful resource for the volunteers on site, as it will provide a shelter for them during rain and somewhere for them to congregate on much needed tea breaks in wet weather.

One issue which is plaguing Hambrook Marshes is ongoing acts of vandalism. It seems that the work being done there is not respected by a certain element of society. Fences have been uprooted, and litter strewn in the rivers. The enthusiasm of the volunteers and employed staff at Hambrook Marshes has not faded, however, and they are taking this in their stride.

Appleseed Landscaping - Tips for your garden

Appleseed Landscapes is a social enterprise, providing a community based professional gardening service, also giving training, work experience and personal development opportunities to enable people to overcome individual challenges in the work place through a range of horticultural projects. Appleseed landscapes were very happy to be invited to offer All Season’s service users their expertise.


This season’s gardening tip is very important-

When buying plants for your garden, many vegetable, shrub, and tree seedlings come grown in peat pots, also called peat moss pots.

This is very handy, because these pots can go straight into the soil, which makes it easy to plant large numbers of peat pot plants quickly.

But there is one catch

When planting out a seedling grown in a peat pot, you need to do one very important thing:

Tear off the top edge before planting!

This should be done because you don't want any part of the pot protruding higher than the soil surface.

If you leave the pot exposed to the air, it will dry out and act as wick, pulling moisture up and away from the plant's roots.

In fact, many gardeners, just to make sure the seedling's roots can transition easily into the garden soil, will also break off parts of the sides and bottom of the pots.

Appleseed Landscaping - one of our volunteers

Nikki Sharp is a 17 year old volunteer working with Appleseed Landscapes to develop his job prospects, hoping to develop skills in horticulture to progress into employment.




Nikki is Autistic, a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. Nikki has been working with Appleseed since November after hearing about the prospects Appleseed had to offer through his Social Worker/Employment Advisor. Nikki is unique in England as he is the first and only volunteer to be offered this pilot contract, which is ongoing until Nikki is placed in employment.



Nikki has developed practical skills in weeding, flower planting, strimming, tree planting, and also building compost bins from previously used timber. Nikki’s helper Lisa Stock claims that the placement has done wonders for Nikki’s confidence, and has helped him build this to the extent of being able to apply for jobs he would never have considered before the placement, as well as producing a CV.

Nikki, the self proclaimed biggest “Only Fools and Horses” fan in the world, and model plane building enthusiast, has managed to involve himself in many other charity projects including work with Disabled Equipment Sent Overseas working within Ghana, who believe that “together we can make a change in the lives of all people with disabilities, children and adults, by providing special equipment, support, education, and training for everyday life and sports, and to help disabled people in developing countries to fulfil their full potential in life.” Not only does Nikki’s work with Disabled Equipment Sent Overseas involve him donating toys and clothes, but also loading lorries with the donated items and helping transport them and unload them into warehouses before shipment. His training at Appleseed has also helped him become a part of a team designing garden projects within Ghana.

When Nikki was asked if he had any advice for people similar to him wanting to get involved in volunteer projects he replied, “Don’t be scared, give it a try.” Nikki’s helper can clearly see the benefits for Nikki and also the benefits the scheme could have for others like him, explaining “Nikki enjoys being out of the house; he loves driving to the different projects” and her description of the change in Nikki’s confidence and the skills he has learnt whilst working with Appleseed Landscaping clearly state the benefits of Appleseed Landscapes' remit to help people developing employment prospects.

Nikki would like to thank everybody at Appleseed but especially Steve, Jamie, Rob and Trevor Scandrett for their help and support.

Kent Enterprise House goes to Kent 20:20

22nd April saw Helen Deeson, Helen Connelly, Trevor Scandrett, Charles Facey and Sam Hadlow take part in the Kent 20:20 exhibition in Maidstone, representing Kent Enterprise House, with the objective of promoting serviced office space, virtual office and conference rooms.

Kent Enterprise House gets Technical

Kent Enterprise Trust was delighted to host a CMS (Content Management System) Training Session with Jonathan Gwyer of HDG Networks who have just designed and launched our exciting new conference website this Spring. http://www.kentconferencecentre.com/


As well as offering a free in-house training session to all relevant Kent Enterprise Trust employees on how to manage the website content themselves, a huge saving in external IT maintenance costs, this was also an excellent opportunity for KET’s “Future Job Fund” employees. The course enabled them to learn about web design and gave them some very practical and invaluable training in a vital business resource. This mutually beneficial exchange of services between two local companies is another great example of how social enterprise is not just business with a social conscience, but also an excellent way of exchanging knowledge and skills, networking and ultimately expanding our profile locally and beyond.

Appleseed Landscaping - what we do

Appleseed Landscapes takes on trainees from back-to-work schemes and ex-offender organizations. These trainees work together with our professional gardeners aiming towards a level 1 Diploma qualification in horticulture at Hadlow College.


Appleseed Landscapes also works with children in local special schools involving them in the planning and designing of projects such as wildlife, sensory and food gardens.

The team also works at residential homes to provide a beautiful and productive environment for residents. We can include residents in the upkeep of gardens providing them with meaningful activity.

Appleseed Landscapes reduces the impact on the environment through a number of means including turning waste products into mulch whenever possible and the construction of compost bins, reusing old timber to do so.

Hambrook Marshes - A History

Hambrook Marshes were purchased by in 2004 by Kent Enterprise Trust (KET), with the goal of providing training opportunities through conservation and land management skills that will hopefully lead into employment. The works on site promote biodiversity by creating and restoring wildlife habitats. Hambrook Marshes is an area of marshland on the banks of the River Stour rich with biodiversity; Hambrook Marshes is a Local Wildlife Site; formally known as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). Concentrated efforts on the marshes will hopefully lead to recognition as a serous conservation interest.


Since January 2010, there have been regular volunteer tasks on the site, such as stock fencing, scrub removal as well as ditch restoration and clearance. There has been major earth works on the site that includes reed bed restoration, scrape and pond creation.

Previous owners Brett Construction, used the site to extract the aggregates, this site was backfilled with the spoil from the construction of the A2; once the site was landscaped very few of the features were restored until Kent Enterprise Trust bought the land in 2004.

The Trust’s aim is to work the land using traditional management techniques that will promote an increase in biodiversity in the hope that this will encourage some of the animals and plant species that used to be present hundreds of years ago. Hambrook Marshes are an important wetland site that acts as a water catchment area for Canterbury, reducing the risk of flooding during the wet seasons.

Appleseed Landscaping - An Introduction

Appleseed Landscapes is a social enterprise, providing a community based professional gardening service, also giving training, work experience and personal development opportunities to enable people to overcome individual challenges in the work place through a range of horticultural projects.


Trainees work alongside the team of experienced gardening professionals, gaining skills in horticulture while gaining a sense of purpose and confidence through the work day routine.

Hambrook Marshes - An Introduction

Set in the floodplain of the Great Stour just outside Canterbury, Hambrook Marshes is a site of Special Conservation Interest and borders a Local Nature Reserve.




Hambrook Marshes is maintained by the Kent Enterprise Trust, a registered charity along with volunteers of varying horticultural experience and knowledge, from professional through to the very inexperienced. The general public and various groups such as Kent Refugee Action Network & Kent Council for Addiction play a key part in the sites management.



Hambrook Marshes has a friends group called the ‘Friends of Hambrook Marshes’; a community run group that runs alongside the project and support events that happen on site. There is also a Facebook fan page just search Hambrook Marshes. More volunteers are always welcome to join in events such as Willow Planting or Bench Making. Events are typically held on the first and third Saturday of the month Volunteers need to contact us on 01227 844 500, e-mail c.martin@enterprisingopps.org.uk or visit http://www.enterprisetrust.org/ for an application form

Kent Enterprise House - An Introduction

Kent Enterprise House business and conference centre offers a unique working experience. With fully equipped meeting and training rooms, a conference suite and manned reception, we are able to offer a highly professional working environment.


Our modern open plan office, new ergonomically friendly design furniture, high spec computers, personal Cisco IP phones and Xerox high quality copier/printer enable our office space to act as a top-quality, yet affordable alternative working environment.

Kent Enterprise Trust moved to Kent Enterprise House in July 2009, to allow growth and to launch its new project, Community Enterprise Hub and Conference Centre.

The team were actively involved in the planning and design of Kent Enterprise House allowing staff to feel a part of its creation and real input into the future of the company.

The project is developing well and provides a vital income to Kent Enterprise Trust.