Lorna lands £1k grant so that her Forest School can make a difference

A MOORLANDS-BASED entrepreneur has been awarded a £1,000 grant and a place on a learning programme to start their social business.

Lorna Stoddart, the codirector of Greenwood Growth Forest School in Leek, is one of 160 entrepreneurs across England selected for a competitive learning programme and grant of up to £1,000 to make a positive difference to their community or the environment.

The Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Start Up programme is run in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and jointly funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.

The programme, now in its ninth year, is the largest of its kind in the UK and will support 2,350 social entrepreneurs by 2021.

Social entrepreneurs are people who start up and run projects to tackle social problems, improve communities or positively impact the environment.

They earn money and make profits, but crucially they reinvest their profits to do more good.

They do this in many different ways, from creating jobs for people who are too often left out of meaningful employment, to supporting community projects, environmental improvements or vital services for people who might not get them otherwise.

The programme will help Lorna to grow Greenwood Growth, which utilises community woodland to offer compassionate support to people focused on connection to self, others and belonging to the natural world.

Lorna is currently engaged in a 12-month learning programme with the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE). This helps people develop the skills, strengths and networks they need to tackle society’s biggest problems.

Lorna says: “I am delighted to have been accepted onto the Lloyds Bank

Social Entrepreneurs Start Up programme, run in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and jointly funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.

The programme and grant will help me grow Greenwood, so I can support more people and communities to feel the benefit to their well-being of spending time outside.”

Helen Animashaun, programme manager at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, says: “We are thrilled to welcome Lorna