The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks that provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.

The Trussell Trust have been part of the journey of Feeding Gloucestershire since 2021, with Phil Coysh, Area Manager for the Trussell Trust for Gloucestershire, Bristol and North Somerset, sitting on our Network Board.

In 2022 Feeding Gloucestershire worked alongside Phil to bring the Independent Food Aid Network’s ‘Worrying About Money?’ cash first referral leaflets to Gloucestershire, with the roll out of the leaflet in Stroud and the Cotswolds, and now our project coordinator is coordinating the work to roll out the leaflets in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, and the Forest of Dean, this work will be completed in spring 2023

Through our connection with The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group SW, Feeding Gloucestershire has linked to The GREAT Project. Through the link with the GREAT project we aim to connect community growing projects across the county to support and to knowledge of environmentally friendly growing methods.

The GREAT Project is putting Gloucestershire in the vanguard of the transition to regenerative agriculture.

GREAT stands for Gloucestershire Regenerative Environment and Agriculture Transition. It’s a three-year project, funded by Thirty Percy, to boost the transition to farming methods that restore the soil, water and air. We want to join the dots between farmers, advisors, growers, mentors and their communities to facilitate this change that is so sorely needed for a resilient future for farms, nature and the earth.

We have three core aims: build evidence, facilitate knowledge exchange, and nurture enterprise.

The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group South West  (FWAGSW) have worked with Feeding Gloucestershire since September 2021. FWAG SW currently administer Feeding Gloucestershire’s funding and are part of our Network Board connecting us to farming and conservation work happening in our county and nationally.

FWAG SW also host the Sustainable Food Places coordinator, and work closely with the Gloucestershire Food and Farming partnership and Feeding Gloucestershire to support the County’s membership of this national program and the development of the county’s campaign for the bronze award

FWAG SW is a registered charity representing the region’s farmers and landowners in the delivery of wildlife conservation.

FWAG was first established as a charity in the 1960s by a group of forward thinking farmers who saw that the environment was an important part of a successful farming business. FWAG SW shares this vision today and acts to promote and enhance the conservation of wildlife, the environment and the landscape in relation to modern agricultural needs

FWAG SW provide independent advice and deliver real change on farmland by working with land managers and landowners across the region. Combining an understanding of farming systems, land management and farm businesses with habitat creation, habitat management and species conservation, FWAG SW is able to effect positive environmental change in the wider landscape.

We also focus on helping farm businesses manage their natural capital assets like soil, water and carbon. FWAG SW specialises in making government policy, environmental incentives, regulations and emerging environmental markets accessible for farmers and land managers at a practical delivery level.

The Forest Voluntary Action Forum have supported and worked with Feeding Gloucestershire since 2021. They have provided valuable insight into the work happening in the Forest of Dean and Nick Penny has sat on the Network Board of Feeding Gloucestershire bringing insight and experience from his work in the communities of the Forest of Dean to help ensure the Vision, Mission and Aims of Feeding Gloucestershire are reflective of the work needed at grassroots level.

FVAF are the Voluntary Service Council and Volunteer Centre for the Forest of Dean. Providing assistance to many of the hundreds of voluntary and community organisations in the District who are in turn better able to deliver their work in and for the local community.

Since forming in 1994 they have developed a reputation for encouraging, embracing and enhancing community action throughout the Forest of Dean. They believe that through community-led approaches we enable citizens to develop the skills, resiliency and social capital to live happier, better connected lives.