REDCATCH: WHERE COMMUNITY IS GROWING

Back in May 2023, we launched BREWED TO GIVE - a project based on a PLEDGE TO DONATE 2% of every brewery sale to good causes across the city. Wherever possible, we donate our beer, equipment and time, enabling charities to flip our support into 4 to 5 times its cost value. By doing this, we have raised over £500,000 which is currently funding football pitches to foodbanks, youth mentorship to emerging artists programmes, City Farms to community celebrations.

One of these projects is REDCATCH COMMUNITY GARDEN. Since we launched Brewed to Give, we have supported the Garden with donated beer, equipment and £1,000, which has raised in excess of £15,000 to support their work year-round.

If don’t already know, Redcatch Community Garden is a little oasis overflowing with colourful flower beds, seasonal vegetables, living walls, sheltered picnic spots, a buzzing café and a play area to top it off. They are open 7 days a week, providing health and wellbeing sessions, education programmes, plant and compost sales, pop-up chef event, beer festivals and a cup of tea for passing dog walkers. 

Kate Swain, their CEO gives us the downlow, “The Garden brings people together to learn, socialise, share skills, and improve their health and wellbeing. Much of this work is targeted at people experiencing social isolation, mental ill-health, SEND children or those not in education, training or employment and people who have suffered trauma.”

It’s hard to imagine that only 8 years ago, this space was once a disused bowling green tucked behind Broadwalk Shopping Centre in Knowle. A group of passionate residents had ambitions to turn this space into something special – something that could cater for everyone. Roll on to 2025 and the Redcatch Community Garden is buzzing. Kate brings it to life, “The Garden is a community hub that purposefully brings people together. When you are here, you can see a group of older people talking to their friends enjoying a piece of cake, dog walkers coming in for a chat,  a 60 year old lady painting the play area fence, somebody in a wheelchair planting a garden box up, or a child with neurodiversity taking part in a cooking session. That’s really important, that we all see each other, because only then do we begin to understand what challenges other people face, how kind people are, how incredible people are, how similar we all are.”

The Garden is a Community Benefit Society which, like a charity, means all profits are ploughed back into activities that benefit the whole community. They don’t receive any direct funding from the local council, so have to earn (or fundraise) every £ to keep the site and services running. By offering a range of events, like their Friday and Sunday Pop-ups is a key part of this – and that’s where we step in. We bring the beer and don’t charge them a penny. That means that 100% of every BBF beer sold at Redcatch Community Garden goes towards their epic work. You buy a beer, they keep the cash and allocate where it is most needed. It really is that simple. 

Kate gave us a glimpse of what our £15,000 raised is helping to support, “Today we have 60 children from the local school coming for a gardening session, seeing what is in season, harvesting anything that is ready and emotionally grounding them as they start back at school. We've got Art in the Garden, which is a free drop-in session for people experiencing mental ill health. We've got a group of young people not in education, training or employment taking part in cooking, woodworking and helping in the café. There’s also a Wellbeing in the Garden group who will be planting, weeding, making up planters and other things to sell on our market stall. And of course, there will be people popping in to enjoy a cup of tea and a biscuit outside amongst nature.” 

For Team BBF, Brewed to Give is our way of giving back to our city. It is our commitment to raise up communities, enabling everyone to have the same opportunities and support. It’s a pledge of 2% of our total brewery sales, which means that every keg, cask or can leaving our yard is giving something back to the city. But our city needs more which is why our door is open to other Bristol-focused businesses who want to collaborate or learn from us to make their own commitment to the city.

Redcatch Community Garden are hosting their last Friday Pop-Up for the summer on 19th September. Get down, buy one of our world-class beers and raise your glass to RAISING UP COMMUNITIES!

Cheers Bristol!