City kids to be sent to the farm

Children from inner city Plymouth will spend an educational week on a farm thanks to a donation from a leading housebuilder.

Persimmon Homes Cornwall has gifted £1,000 to Millfields Inspired through its Community Champions scheme.

Millfields Inspired is a charity which works with young people and their families from the Stonehouse area of Plymouth.

The charity aims to inspire young people by giving them experience and a taste for the world of work in order to inform their future career choices. The group is currently looking for funding to cover the costs of sending Year Five children to Nethercott House, run by the Devon charity Farms for City Children, to give them hands-on experience and life skills.

Millfields Inspired hopes to pay for an entire class of children to be ‘farmers for a week’, and Persimmon Homes Cornwall are the first to step in with a donation to help with reach their target.

Josanne Stewart, of Millfields Inspired, said: “We are extremely grateful to Persimmon Homes for this generous donation.

“This project with Farms for City Children builds on the success of our Widening Horizons programme which has been run in Stonehouse primary schools for the last eight years.

“We believe that this opportunity of spending a week at a farm will be very beneficial to the children and will help with their personal growth.

“This £1,000 gift puts us well on the way to reaching our goal.”

The Community Champions scheme sees Persimmon Homes donate up to £2,000 to charities and community groups within Cornwall and Plymouth each and every month.

This happens across all of Persimmon’s 28 regions as well as at the company’s head office in York.

Since the scheme launched in March 2015, more than £1million has been dished out to good causes nationally.

Daniel Heathcote, director in charge at Persimmon Homes Cornwall, said: “We’re delighted to be able to help Millfields Inspired in this way.

“I’m sure that the children will have a fantastic experience at the farm getting their hands dirty and learning new skills. Learning in the classroom is great – but you cannot beat hands-on experience.”

Charities and community groups can apply for funding by visiting www.persimmonhomes.com/charity

Persimmon Homes Cornwall is currently building in Plymouth at its Palmerston Heights in Derriford, where there is a range of two, three and four bedroom homes.

For more details about Palmerston Heights, visit www.persimmonhomes.com/palmerston-heights-10435