Hartcliffe City Farm - Community Resilience Fund

So, hi, I'm Helen. I'm here with Ellie and Steve from um Heart Cliff City Farm, and we look forward to speaking to you both about your experience of CRF funding process and the difference it's made here at the farm. Are you both happy to share your opinions and share your thoughts? Yeah, yeah, of course, yes, that's fantastic. So, um, can you tell me a bit more about experience? I think it might be one more for Steve actually come with

Tell me a bit more about your experience of going through the funding application and how that worked. Um, It was a it was a That would be fairly standard application form, but then the process that went on behind that in terms of who was selecting projects and how they got selected, um, was an experiment in participatory, um, grant making that the council wanted to try out. And if I'm quite honest, I was quite sceptical about whether um CRF was the right thing to try that out on, um, cos it's one of those

Um, the, the premise of it was around, um. Giving community organisations um. Funds to actually bolster their own resilience or um environmental kind of credibility or um repair the roof even, you know, on places um

Which is quite a technical thing. It's, it's not about heartstrings. I was concerned it might become a bit of a beauty parade if it's just left to, you know, like which is the, which is the sexiest project, it could be what and where the funding end up going

So, um, credits cos they did put resources into kind of recruiting and training people to be able to make decisions, um, that were a bit more technical in nature than might be. Almost for, you know, it's not your Tesco bags of help put a blue token in the box kind of a and like, you know, needs a bit more effort in that, um, necessarily that too longer and was more involved but yeah we were successful so in that sense we all, you know. And I think it's a question for you both really following that

The um, what difference do you think the funding's made? To the farm. It's been massive, hasn't it? It's been really massive. So I mean I can, from the, from the kind of farm side of things, it's brought a lot of life to the farm, but I think even before that, it it it's kind of set the scene

So, um, as we were chatting a little bit about this earlier, um, in terms of kind of the feed. Stores and um, the workshop, we can't really do the work of like the like running the farm without those things. Um, so revamping all of that is is obviously really important and underpinning the barn, you know, it couldn't be what it is now without that

um, and opening the barn itself has been amazing. I've started about. I think was it like 4 months, say, before, um, that happened and it, it was, you know, there was a steady flow of people, but it, there wasn't that kind of buzz and like real excitement, um, that there is now

Um, it's just kind of, yeah, become a bit of a hub, a community hub, um, for people to meet. I, I think the. Having the investment in community

Facilities and spaces can really transform. How people feel about the space, it feels loved, it feels, um, like it, it's something that everybody can come and take part in, and they do, and they people are coming in on the opening day there were 750 people here, you know, it's like, um, and then people keep coming, so that having that investment in community spaces is absolutely vital. That's fantastic to see it's changed so much over the time and that people are feeling very welcome, yeah

Particularly in an area, you know, you're, you're in an area that doesn't have an abundance of community spaces, you know, there isn't that much in Hartcliff that people can just come to you for free and have something that everybody can enjoy and you know, on that, how do you think um that you've designed the space and like aimed the projects that's been funded in order to serve the local community rather than. Making a really nice place that then ends up serving Bristol as a wider city. Yeah, so it was done really carefully, so, um, in terms of kind of designing the barn space, obviously that was always intended to be free, um, we worked with the project manager who had lots of experiences

Aligning spaces for children and families, um, as well, and kind of, and also outdoor spaces, so that was designed really well in terms of putting that together. Um, children locally were consulted by the outdoor learning team as well about kind of what they wanted to see in the space, um. I think, yeah, those are some of the kind of main things

I think we have made lots of effort to kind of run different things um with different groups uh as well to kind of try and bring them in. Um, to, to kind of the space. Um, obviously with the cafe, we talked to them quite extensively about making that really affordable, um, having different options

Um, and we also agreed with them that they would review kind of each year, uh, whether they were kind of serving the things that people wanted to see as well. Um, so kind of a big focus on, um, yeah, affordability, but also providing what people want to eat and drink and, and play with, um, in the bar. Have you been managing the football? How have you managed to keep an eye on how many people are coming and things like that? So, um, initially, uh, it was, it was, it was quite, um, challenging actually because there was a sudden kind of like influx of, of people coming, um, much and staying much longer as well, um, but, uh, so we actually we did employ one more person, a cleaner caretaker, to kind of take care of some of the spaces, um, from that

Um, and, uh, you know, in terms of our team, obviously, um, kind of just been kind of carrying on with the work that they're doing to kind of keep, keep you kind of space up kept. Um, in terms of kind of managing the people kind of in the space, people are pretty good at sort of doing them, doing that themselves. Um, the community's actually really quite good at taking care of, of the barn, um, and also kind of in terms of behaviour, like people do have a bit of a thing about Hartcliff and, and people

behaviour, but actually we've had no problems really. um, you know, there's children playing and enjoying themselves, um, but, you know, people don't take much, much kind of supervising. um I think going back to your, your question around creating space for local people, um

It Being close to the community and actually knowing what people locally want is obviously the first part of that. And we, we have over the three years that we've been involved here, um. 4 years probably actually, um

We've, we've always made an effort to talk to people locally about what their expectations are, what their hopes are, um. What they might actually want their community to be, um, there's a, there's a really quite fierce pride in Hartcliffe off Harcliffe, and that's a great thing. um, but I think outside of Hocliffe there is a perception that isn't always favourable about the neighbourhood

So while we have designed it and very much with local people in mind, the fact that people are coming from other parts of the city to here and see. This as an asset in Hartcliffe for the city is a really positive thing and hopefully that will change some of perceptions around, you know, what Hartcliffe is and the people that live here. That's part of it as well

Yeah, I think that's really great being able to bring people in, um, from wider Bristol, as you say, Bristol does feel very much, Parcliffe feels like its own entity for some reason. The, how have you, but it's interesting that you say some people are coming from all over Bristol, how are you managing to pick up on that? How are you managing to keep a record of, um, yeah. So, uh, I mean, the office, um, here is quite open, so people come quite often to buy animal feed from the office

So we were always really interested to chat to them. And when you start seeing people that you don't recognise because they're not coming up every week, we were sort of asking people, you know, how are you enjoying it? Where, where have you come from today? And kind of, yeah, how did you get here? All those questions just chatting. Um, and then also obviously Sophie in the, in the cafe will have those conversations with people because she's trying to kind of gauge where people are from

So then, then we sort of caught up with each other and yeah, trying to get a picture. Um, we did do some surveys as well from the event, um, where we saw a really kind of good mix of mostly South Bristol people, um, but from all sorts of different areas of South Bristol, um, as well as some areas kind of outside of that, um, so a little bit of surveying, but mostly, yeah, chatting to people. Um, That's um that's fantastic, and I think one of the things is really the pay zone as well as the cafe, I think the play zone it's a safe place for um people to come and interact, yeah, yeah

Um, now I know that one of the big things you put your funding application is about it being quite ecocentric, quite very environmentally minded. How have you managed to introduce that? So it's quite a hard question really in terms of, of the barn. Um, I guess we have focused a lot on the natural materials and natural play equipment, um, for the, for the children, um, we

Uh, use quite a lot of local work people to kind of build things, um, kind of trying to responsibly sort of source things as well. Um, we've got lots of secondhand toys and various other things that we could pick up, um, for, for the space as well. Um

Yeah, yeah, energy efficient. I mean there's no heating in there. It's just a, so you know we're not trying to make it a warm space, so there's an ambient temperature, but all the lightings, LED lighting, all those kind of all the things you'd expect in terms of um you know, capturing water and using less electricity and all those kind of things

Yeah, I'll pick you up about what you said about the electricity, um, so the electricity is also a big part of the bid. Yeah, the, so that. What difference has that made? Oh, again, it's been massive

So, um, the barn obviously needed lots of, um, refitting in terms of that, but also the workshop and a lot of the other spaces. Um, it just means that you're able to function here. That's, that's the thing, isn't it? You need to be able to plug some lights in

And then use your tools and charge the batteries and turn your computers on and, and that sort of thing. So I think it's, I, I wasn't here, obviously, when it first started, but my impression from everybody that was and from working here now is that it's a much more usable space. Um, it's much more welcoming to work in, to visit, to kind of, um, and to kind of maintain and upkeep

Yeah. If you hadn't had the money from the Community Resilience fund, what do you feel, um, The situation would be now. It's quite hard to say

I suppose we would have been looking to fundraise, um, you know, we still would have wanted to do the things, but it would be um it would be further behind, I suppose. We we would still have the vision, harder, slower process. That might actually fail, you know, you might not actually be able to get that critical mass, the momentum

The thing when you, when you win something like the the funds from the CRF, you, you can use that to leave or open more funds from other places, so it, it generates inward investment, it enables you to do so much more than you could do without it. It was quite a big chunk, right, it was. Like quite a big hefty thing, exactly, and like that kind of money is quite hard to come by in the fundraising world

So is, is that like, because I know there's some big funders in Bristol, but they, like you say, they like to fund the projects that are already being funded because there's reporting and there's, which I think for us was the, the good thing about CRF is being able to for communities to decide for themselves to fund the smaller things and the more localised things. Um, would you have been able to fund this project? No, not, not in one go. We've been doing it piecemeal and that's it's never very easy and you don't, you don't get the wow, you don't get the attraction of people going, wow, this suddenly looks love, you know, when you look around the site we've we've put

Over a million pounds for this site in the last couple of years and some of it you can't see, it's in drainage underground and um, you know, new roofs. If you look at the building across there, you know, it's got a great new roof on it. Well, it's just a roof, you know, it had a teabag on it before, brown water used to drip through it whenever it rained

And that's gone, it's now got a roof, but it's still, it's a roof, you know, some of these things, it's the, it's the less sexy things to fund the hardest. If money was no object, what do you feel you could put your your big priorities would be now? I guess we, uh, it's multiple things. Um, we still have some, uh, priorities in terms of, like, the site development

Um, so buildings, um, and things like that. But our, our big focus now is kind of collaboration, partnership, getting people here to enjoy it. Um, so I guess, uh, more money for more groups, um, more kind of, um, More space, I think that is a big, it's still a big one as much as we've got the lovely barn, more space that people can use more privately, I suppose would be amazing

Um, the, the things I suppose. We'll be looking at an ongoing sense. First of all, places like this need maintenance, so there will be a continual ongoing need to repair, to upkeep, to paint, to put new roofs, you know, fixing things that break, you know, just in the in the storm in in October

A piece of roof blew off, you know, suddenly you've got a 5000 pounds bill just to put the tyres back on the roof, you know, um, so there's that kind of thing. Um, we've got exciting new projects that we want to do. So this is a very wet site

It's the bottom of Dundee slopes and a lot of water comes through. We have thought of putting a log flume in here because sometimes it's that much. Um, but towards the bottom of the site there's an area that could be a wetland

So we, we will be looking to develop a wetland kind of. Nature reserve essentially in a small areas of site, um, we'll need funds for that. So that's another aspect of of things you want to do and then

So there's there are ongoing environmental kind of projects you do. But then we also need to build the capacity of the site to generate income. So you can imagine putting into a corner of a field, a shelter that can act as a wedding venue, and suddenly you've got an income stream there that you can use sometimes for educational groups, sometimes as a wedding venue, and you can generate more income

So that's how we'd look to develop the site to sympathetically. Build what's here into something that makes it more sustainable for itself as well as putting in, you know, we want to develop the play area and a bit more, you know, all those kind of smaller things that with the barn, do you make do you make much income from that because I know obviously there's the cafe in there that like, is there much money coming from that, not yet. Um, so they're obviously, uh, kind of growing their business at the moment

Um, they will do some profit sharing with us. It won't be probably enormous, um, for quite a long time. They're only 3 days a week at the moment

Um, obviously they need to be able to pay themselves a living wage, um, and, and kind of pay for all of the things that they use, so. Um, we will make some income, um, but, but not tonnes, um, and people do quite regularly ask if we'll rent out the barn, um, but obviously we want it to be open to people for free in the day, so we can't do that, um, because it would kind of stop other people from accessing it, um. It, that we've talked a little bit about kind of, uh, how we could use it as a venue

Um, it's got, uh, the sandpit turns into a stage, um, so the design is that, uh, you know, the lid can go on. Um, and it could be a really amazing space for people to do performances and, and, and things like that, but we're not quite there yet. We're still in the phase of like, yeah, um, kind of making this work well

Um, but hopefully at some point, you know, there is the opportunity for that. It's that kind of stuff in the evening, it could essentially open in the evening and generate some income there for for things, um, but that's kind of not the main focus of it. I think the main focus of it has been to draw people to the farm, um, and kind of, yeah, um, kind of build up, um, our, our kind of space for the community

There is a little bit of donating going on. We've got like a little swirly pot, and people are putting quite a lot of money in there, which is nice. Um, we did set up a good box as well, which is like a kind of card machine

So we'll get a few donations, um, based on that. But it seems like, obviously, as you said a few times, like, it's a community space, more than anything. It's not a money making, it's not anything like that

It's there for the community. How do you feel like, um, obviously, by not, by keeping it not ticketed, you're, you're avoiding this, but how. With rising costs of everything, with the need to get income at some point in order to maintain it, how are you going to avoid the inevitable hand of gentrification and and ticketing and these kind of things? Well, I, I, we, we, our vision is that we will not uh be charging to, to, to use the space

Um, so, uh, yeah, I, I can't imagine us ever deciding to do that. Um, it, it, we need to be. Putting things on locally that draw people to the farm from the local area

And we need to prioritise, uh, people from the local area for tickets for certain activities. But we do also want to be welcoming to other people and enable people to kind of mix with each other and make new friends and, and like Steve said earlier, kind of put Parkcliffe, um, out there in terms of, like, the amazing things that go on here and the amazing people that live here as well, kind of showcasing some of the things they do. Um, for instance, with the Christmas market, we had like local people selling things that they make and things like that

So we want to pull people in, but we want to kind of lift up what's happening here already and showcase that, I suppose. And it's just always having that in mind, I suppose, when we're doing things, um, and, and working with people and collaborating with people, um, to do the things that we do here. Yeah

Yeah I think one of the last questions really would be is how I think, to be honest I feel you've really answered this is how's the impact of the farm made a big difference. Um, so, the impacts of the fund, sorry, for community resilience fund, where, where's the big difference come from um. So I suppose, um, it, it, it's like we said, just like making the farm feel really welcoming, um, and open and accessible because it's not, you know, it, it, it's functional space

Um, but also because it's got something free now that you can come and do at any point in the day when we're open. Um, that's what's made a big difference. I think it's really made it an inviting place to come to for people

Uh, someone said to me the other day about, um, it's, it's one of the places in Hartcliffe that you would drive to, um, from elsewhere. And I was like, that's really nice, um, as much as obviously we don't want people to drive here, um, but you know, uh, it's somewhere that you would travel to, um, which is really nice, I think, yeah. I mean, I'm fortunate in the fact that I've had conversations with people outside Parkcliff who have said it's one of the best outside areas to come to, and I know a number of people who have also said it's, yeah, they've got a lot out there

Yeah, I think, um. Less cows got anything up. I guess kind of, I guess I would finish on a very similar thing, so it might be repetition, but

Beyond the bricks and mortar of the barn. What's the bond to you guys? What does it represents. I think it, for me it's about a place being loved and it's like that's what it shows

It's like we care about this place, that's why we got into it and why we did it, you know, it's why we put so much time and effort and money into redeveloping the space for people to come and when you walk around the barn and you see people in there. Really enjoying themselves and you know, it makes people's lives better. That's what we do it for, essentially

Yeah, definitely, definitely. It does feel loved and it feels loved not only by us but also by the community. You know, we put some signs up saying it should look like this and put some brushes out

People sweep it sometimes you go in at the end of the day now and it's spotless, which is like, yeah, um. It is kind of a shared space that people can enjoy and love. Yeah

That's the word shared, I think really stands out. And I think that shows that it's a real community hub for the fact that it's placed the community. It's not somewhere where people will come and see

It's more somewhere people will really exciting. Yeah. Do you both feel there's anything, um, that you'd like to add to this really about the farm and the difference and the only thing I'd add is that is

You know, at the minute there's a um campaign in Bristol for a community asset and community asset manifesto, so it's called Roots of resilience. And one of the asks in there is to try to convince the council to ring fence some funds for an ongoing CRF essentially so that there is, you know, every year somewhere that community spaces can bid to to help. Maintain and develop the spaces

So that is, you know, seeing the CRF so successful really is a good case for making that ongoing. You know, the city owns these spaces. This is city council land, we manage it, but we are investing in our own city by doing it and and that's really important

I think that's a really positive thing to end on, so thank you both for taking your time to talk to us today about the difference that the CRF has made for the farm and the ongoing positive vibe. That's wonderful. Thank you

Thank you. Thank you.