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Early in the 2000, a local farmer, Adam Twine obtained a grant from
the Countryside Agency to renovate an old farm building to use for community and social purposes.
He looked into the idea of creating a therapeutic horticulture project. Around the same time, a
Mental Health Development Worker was researching the needs of people living in the area who experienced mental health
difficulties. This research identified a serious lack of
support, employment and training-related services for such
people. These two strands came together
in Root and Branch.
A group of interested and enthusiastic people from the
local community took the idea forward to gain charitable
status and raised enough funds to open the project in 2003.
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Since
then, staff, volunteers, trustees and clients have seen the
project develop enormously. The original building houses our
office and two rooms equipped for crafts and communal
activities. The previously uncultivated meadowland has been
transformed into a functional garden with a vegetable garden,
wildlife pond, wildlife hedge, soft-fruit garden, covered patio,
and and a beekeeping area. We have also transformed a nearby
barn to house a woodworking shop and a blacksmith's forge.
About our logo
One of the earliest tasks was to design our logo. You will all have seen our logo on this web site, our letter
heading or various publications. So, what is special?
It is just a tree with roots and branches and we are Root &
Branch. Or is it that simple? Look more closely!
Here is an enlarged version.
Obviously, you can now see that it is made up of
hand prints. I asked the creator of the logo, Cathy
Turbinskyj, how she came up with this imaginative design.
She explained that it started with the name of the organisation
but included many other ideas including
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We are all about doing things with our hands -
woodwork, gardening, balcksmithing, etc.
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A lot of our work goes unseen but is important
and is seen here as the roots.
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The roots are also about reaching for
sustenance.
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The branches are about reaching out into the
world which is what our clients are able to do after working
with us.
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The use of hands has always been seen as
important in healing.
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We are here to give people a helping hand.
So the whole logo is a powerful metaphor of the
way we work and what we aim to achieve.
Many of us know Cathy because she is our Gardening
Supervisor.
If you get caught short at Root & Branch you
are welcome to use our toilet. You will then have the additional
pleasure of seeing a colourful mural of our logo that was also
created by Cathy.
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| Cathy's colourful mural of the logo. |
Cathy Turbinskyj,
logo designer and Garden Supervisor |
Pictures of the early work on the old farm building
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