We are the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project, a small charity whose main focus is working with pupils struggling in the classroom, offering them an alternative outdoor environment in which they can succeed in learning new manual and social skills that will hopefully better prepare them for their life ahead.

School pupils and young adults with learning difficultiesget to learn practical hands-on skills such as carpentry, construction, woodland management, horticulture, bush-craft, cooking, team work and perhaps most importantly social skills. We offer a high degree of mentoring along with recognised qualifications.

With volunteer workdays each week that are open to all, we succeed in bringing together a wide range of people of different ages, nationalities, classes and abilities.

In the year of our 20th anniversary, we are hoping to complete the building one of Brighton's most eco-friendly structures ever! Off-grid and timber framed, it will be our flagship building and make a massive difference to the project helping us expand our work with pupils, run courses and events, store equipment as well as having somewhere warm and dry for staff, pupils and volunteers.

Using only local and recycled materials, the design is loosely based on a traditional timber frame, built from locally grown sweet chestnut still in its natural round form. The roof and floor timbers are from locally grown and milled Douglas Fir. The roof slates are made from recycled plastic and the walls will be a mixture of straw-bale and cordwood construction using local wood, clay and straw.

As you can see from the photographs, we are mid-way through our project and need £15,000 to finish it.

Your support will make a massive difference, helping our small charity to complete our biggest adventure yet.

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