Hello,

Our names are Simon Liu and Tristan Bawn, Co-Owners of UK Active Outdoors Ltd based between Bristol and Bath City in Keynsham. As a self-funded business without charitable status or external grants, we are seeking small donations to establish an on-site wellbeing vegetable and fruit garden for our neurodiversity community groups.

When we first started, we were only hosting activities for individuals, groups, and families. As our clientele grew, we adapted our sessions to include individuals with a range of abilities. Although this brought challenges, it has been rewarding to see participants enjoy activities that were not originally designed for them.

10 years on, we are now working with a number of neurodiversity groups that attend our inclusive archery sessions twice a week, all year round.

This has grown to include individuals of all ages and abilities with learning difficulties, neurodiversity groups - ASD, ADHD, etc, as well as out-of-school children, vulnerable adults, wheelchair users, non-verbal, PTSD, and behaviourally challenging groups.

These sessions have helped provide a safe environment and a fantastic space for our community to meet up, hang out, and socialise, and we are aiming to increase accessibility due to local demand.

It has been a fascinating experience watching these amazing individuals grow with confidence and showing us that they can learn to become more independent and self-sufficient with time and patience.

So what have we been doing to become more inclusive?

* In the last 4 years, we have quadrupled the number of participants with various mental and physical disabilities who now attend regular activities with us.

* In the last 2 years, we designed and built two archery tools to help those who cannot pull a bow back, and we have found that the tools have been vital in helping individuals participate in an activity where they are usually not accessible to them. These include people with nerve damage, amputees, wheelchair users, people with learning difficulties, and even young children as young as 5 years old.

* In the past year, we have installed a usable solid platform for wheelchair users in one of our archery lanes.

* We have almost completed building our wooden lodge, which was donated to us. This has helped by providing a few extra activities undercover from the weather - from Pumpkin carving to a Christmas reindeer workshop, and a fossil/wildlife show-and-tell from our on-site mini museum.

* We have also attended charitable events with Access Sport, Sherborne Castle, Frampton, and Mid-Somerset Country Fair, showcasing our safe archery setup.

This winter, we are looking to create a wellbeing garden area for them, to help them grow their own vegetables and fruit at our centre after their regular session with us.

While we have begun building the garden area (installing poles, fences and woodchipping the surrounding area), we are still in need of some vital materials to help complete this project in time for the growing season (Our deadline is to start growing from March 2026).

We are looking to build four large planters out of sleepers and a potting and nursery area (where we are looking to grow potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, and lettuce) and install a fruit cage for growing fruits (such as blackcurrants, raspberries, and gooseberries, etc).

So what do we need?

* We require a number of sleepers to create our planters.

* Screws to put them all together.

* Good topsoil.

* Various seeds.

Please support us with a small donation today—your help is crucial in making the wellbeing garden a reality for our community groups and future projects.

Join us in growing this shared garden for everyone—your contribution will make a real difference.

Our aim has been to help people enjoy the great outdoors, providing them with life skills in a social setting, and to help with people’s well-being and mental health. This project is not just aimed at our neurodiversity group, but for everyone who visits us.

Our overall goal is to set up a dedicated charity for these local communal groups to come and spend time learning new activities and staying active in an outdoor environment.

As a business, we do not receive any funding or grants as we are not a charity. We have to fund everything ourselves, which has been difficult to achieve in this day and age, as the rise in material costs and living costs, has greatly affected the outdoor leisure industry.

Our centre is primarily built from 85% recycled reclaimed materials, which we have sourced ourselves, and there are many more projects we wish to complete - From installing a wooden floor in our Archery, Axe throwing, and Air Rifle range. to build a walkway ramp down to our local river to provide access to our watersports, installing an accessible slipway and launch platform for wheelchair users. Putting up more undercover space, and promoting sustainability and wildlife conservation.

However, due to the cost of materials, this has slowed down our progress, and sourcing material takes a lot of time and effort to locate, take down and transport, while running an activity centre.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and we look forward to your support.