Beloved community centre aims to go ‘from grey to green’ in 24 hours
The community came together on Saturday 21 March to enhance a popular local centre’s outdoor space, thanks to support from Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest, as reported by the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgxnx9n512o
The Mount Wise Neighbourhood Centre was a much-loved hub for the Devonport community, serving as home to the local Baptist church, children’s playgroups and youth clubs.
But with the centre’s appearance needing restoration work and its surrounding outdoor space in need of a makeover, the group that runs the centre, Zebra Collective, teamed up with Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest (PSDCF) for a 24-hour revamp event, with co-designed support from the Open University.
Covering over 140,000 hectares of land – that’s 196,078 full-size football pitches – PSDCF supports landowners, tenants, businesses and communities to plant trees and create woodlands for the benefit of people, nature and place across Plymouth, south Devon, west Devon and Dartmoor National Park.
Formed in 2003, Zebra Collective is a small community group based in Devonport. Their work includes running youth clubs and establishing youth social action projects, as well as nature and urban greening initiatives.
In 2024, the Mount Wise Neighbourhood Centre had become dilapidated and was set to close before Zebra Collective acquired the building from the council on an 11-year lease.
On the importance of the centre, Debbie Freeman – Partnership and Project Lead at Zebra Collective – said, “Having previously been used as a nursery and a much-loved venue for local youth clubs and birthday parties, members of Zebra Collective, alongside residents of Devonport, were determined to bring the building back to life – and that’s what we’re doing using our collective community resources.”
The 24-hour event came at a time when Devonport continued to be within the top 20% most deprived areas in England, according to Plymouth City Council’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Our garden is the heart of our centre, and we want to share it with everyone in our community,” she said. “Since joining the group, I’ve made lifelong friends, and my mental and physical health has improved so much. The outdoors really is nature’s best medicine.
Nikky Chapman from Devonport wa
