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Green Community Hub updates

The Glebe, A Green Community Hub for People, Plants and Pollinators

 

Made Possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund
 
 
 

Thanks to the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, from September 2025, we are excited to be working on a 15-month project to help rejuvenate and shape our work.

In this project, which we have called The Green Community Hub for People, Plants and Pollinators, Harmony Community Trust aims to engage local communities and volunteers in transforming its 8.5-acre Glebe House estate into a sustainable Green Community Hub.

Through this initiative, we will conserve the site’s fragile and ecologically rich environment, uncover and share its historical and cultural heritage, and build a long-term community-led model of stewardship and environmental education which harnesses our rich social and environmental heritage.

In 2026, we are actively looking for volunteers to join one of our workstream groups and are looking for people interested in the following, please complete the form on the recruitment page. 

Watch for updates on this project. Please click HERE for further information on the project.

 
 

Meet the Green Community Hub -Project Team!

Green Community Hub -Task Force Project Team,Green Task Force Project Team (left to right): David Price, Facilitator and Planner; Celia Spouncer and David Thompson, Spouncer Ecology (Ecology Consultants); Alison Matthews, In-house Project Coordinator.
Green Task Force Project Team (left to right): David Price, Facilitator and Planner; Celia Spouncer, Spouncer Ecology (Ecology Consultant); David Thompson, Spouncer Ecology (Ecology Consultant); Alison Matthews, In-house Project Coordinator.
This year so far has seen a great start for a project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and we’ve hired a part-time inhouse  Project Coordinator –  Alison Matthews and a freelance Facilitator Planner, David Price and freelance ecologists, Spouncer Ecology – Celia Spouncer &  David Thompson. You can put faces to names here, as you will see us all on site over the next 12 months. 
The external team reports to the Green Community Hub Task Group ( A subgroup of three Harmony Community Trust Trustees who have oversight for the project and are long-standing volunteers Judith Thompson, Sally Kelly and Una Hagan).
We have also set up 6 workstreams, each with a designated volunteer lead who will liaise with the volunteers in that group.

Update 31.01.2026

Great buzz at our First Engagement Day at Harry Building, Glebe House.19.02.2026

Community engagement workshop with participants seated at tables in small discussion groups in the Harry Building, The Glebe.

We had our first engagement meeting last Thursday, 19th February, which was very well attended. 
Our first day was all about talking to our regular volunteers and service users and holding pollinating discussions. The day was expertly facilitated by David Price, and there were, of course, tasty refreshments with homemade soup, wheaten bread and even lemon drizzle cake!
There were lots of fruitful and interesting discussions on all the brilliant things Glebe has to offer but also how it can evolve to meet growing needs of the community. 
We had great feedback, including the quote below from one of our regular service users.
How can you get involved? 
  1. There will be future interactive engagement sessions, and we will share the details of those.
  2. We will also be sharing a survey with individuals in the Lecale and greater area to get your
    feedback on what is missing in this area, and what role Glebe could fulfill
  3. Volunteer your time  for one of our workstreams (insert.Image) and apply for our
    volunteer pool HERE
 
Have an event, activity, or service you would like to see at Glebe? We’re always striving to serve our community as best we can. So
all suggestions are welcome! 
Update 25.02.2026
Slide about setting up volunteer groups: Biodiversity, Glebe History, Community Engagement, Skills and Training, and Community Growing and Environment.
'Today was a great engagement day at Glebe House, looking to its exciting future. Once a wonderful place of sanctuary, learning, peace building and connection. It is well on its way to being all of that again but rising to the challenges of the society we live in here and now. The passion and energy of a volunteer-led team was inspiring'
Participants conversing at Engagement Day no.1 at Harry Building, Glebe House

Noeleen Fries Neumann

Service User at The Glebe