Celebrating 40 years of Grow

Grow will throw open its doors to the public on Sunday (14th July) in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

Grow was officially opened on 14th July 1984 by the then Bailiff, Sir Charles Frossard. The historic occasion was witnessed by the celebrated comic actor, Brian Rix, who was at that time Secretary General of Mencap UK.

Grow was the brainchild of the late Maurice Lihou whose aim was to provide a safe working environment for adults with learning disabilities. The vinery site, which now houses state of the art training facilities, was purchased by Mencap in 1983 and Grow was established the following year. Initially six attendees grew flowers, vegetables and tomatoes. Steadily numbers increased and Grow became recognised as a place where trainees could take part in meaningful employment working in horticulture, rather than spending their lives at home.

Now over 40 Crew attend and training streams now include hospitality and workshop skills as well as horticulture. With the enhanced facilities comes ancillary informal training including administration and facilities management.

“We are very excited to be welcoming islanders to Grow this weekend so everyone can see for themselves the outstanding training facilities which we now offer our Crew,” said Carol Brehaut, Grow’s office manager who is helping to organise the event. “We have come a long way since I joined the team in 2016 when the greenhouses were in poor condition, our office accommodation and workshops were in old packing sheds and training concentrated on horticultural skills and some basic carpentry.”

Sunday’s celebrations begin with a private reception in the morning where people associated with Grow over four decades have been invited to attend and share their memories in the presence of the Bailiff, Sir Richard MacMahon.

Miss Brehaut said that everyone was welcome between 12 – 4pm to explore the training facilities and enjoy tea and cakes in the canteen, hosted by Friends of Grow (known as FrOGs). Also the training café, where members of the team will be serving barbeque food.

Activities for children include following the trail of a cartoon character named Frollo, created by Crew member Abi Lawlor. Abi took FrOGs as her inspiration to create Frollo the Frog whose cheeky character appears around the site in different poses.

There will be a variety of goods and plants for sale, raffles and a bottle stall with tours of the site and a Grow information booth where members of the team will be on hand to talk about Grow and how it operates.

Co-locating charities Wigwam, Guernsey Carers and Paws for Support will also be taking part.

Whilst there will be limited parking on site, a park and ride will operate from the Guernsey Institute (College of Further Education) and parking is available at DHS in La Route des Long Camps with a short walk to Grow.