Beloved community centre aims to go ‘from grey to green’ in 24 hours
Residents will come together on Saturday 21 March to enhance a popular local centre’s outdoor space, thanks to support from Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest.
The Mount Wise Neighbourhood Centre is a much-loved hub for the Devonport community, serving as home for the local Baptist church, children’s play groups, and youth clubs
But with the centre’s appearance longing for restoration work and its surrounding area’s outdoor space in much need of a makeover, the group that run the centre, Zebra Collective, have teamed up with Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest (PSDCF) for a 24-hour revamp event, with codesigned support from the Open University.
Covering over 140,000 hectares of land – that’s 196,078 full size football pitches – PSDCF support landowners, tenants, businesses and communities to plant trees and create nature woodlands for the benefit of people, nature, and place across Plymouth, south Devon, west Devon, and Dartmoor National Park.
Their objective is to plant community woodlands from shore to moor by 2050. More than 130,000 trees have been planted across Plymouth and south Devon this season alone, varying from hawthorn, hornbeam, silver birch, oak, and fruit trees.
Formed in 2003, Zebra Collective is a small community group based in Devonport. Their community work includes running youth clubs and establishing youth social action projects, nature and urban greening projects.
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.”
Nikky Chapman from Devonport is one of the residents that will be joining the 24-hour makeover. She joined the centre’s gardening group last year to make new friends and to get more involved with fellow residents.
“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.”
The 24-hour event comes at a time when Devonport continues to be within the top 20% most deprived areas in England, according to Plymouth City Council’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Peter Hawking-Shaw, Project Manager of Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest said, “We’re extremely proud to support this project with the Devonport Community. From tree planting and restoring precious biodiversity across the area to the community-led restoration of the Mount Wise Neighbourhood Centre, it’s going to be a fantastic opportunity for all of us involved.
“In partnership with Zebra Collective, this is a great example of local authority led project and community initiative coming together to preserve and restore natural spaces for the benefit of future generations.”
