Incredible Education group staff members Image taken and given permission to use from Ian Bocock. Salford environmental group awards

A Salford environmental group have gained special recognition at a Parliament awards ceremony for their community work.

The Incredible Education CIC group in Eccles attended the Green Heart Hero Awards in The House of Commons yesterday alongside biodiversity collectives from across the country. 

They placed in the top three for their category, with their work on Cleavley Community Forest Gardens being recognised as one of the best Innovative UK Community Projects. 

Director and Leader of horticultural education for the group, Ian Bocock, said: “Being nominated for the award has meant a great deal for everyone at Incredible Education CIC.”

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“On hearing that we had been nominated, we felt this was recognition of all the hard work and dedication that our whole team have put into the creation of Cleavley Community Forest Garden, in particular, the efforts of our amazing team of volunteers, without whom we could not have achieved so much. 

“To be recognised as one of the top 3 Innovative UK Community Projects says a great deal about what we have collectively achieved.”

The group, which was founded in Winton in 2014, describes itself as a “social enterprise” specialising in “health and wellbeing programmes” that are delivered through “horticulture and forest school activities.” 

Incredible Education staff members. Image taken and given permission to use from Ian Beacock. Salford environmental group awards.
Incredible Education staff members.
Image taken and given permission to use from Ian Bocock.
Salford environmental group awards.

As they have drastically improved the conditions of the Cleavely Forest Gardens with their environmental work, Incredible Education use the location to host a variety of events. 

Several of the upcoming workshops are free, including a ‘Grow Your Own Vegetables’ event on 15th April, and a ‘Summer Fun Day’ on 5th August.  

As of this Winter, the group also opened the ‘Ivy Den’ coffee shop within the space, which serves drinks and snacks to the public Tuesdays-Thursdays or Tuesdays-Saturdays depending on the month. 


Ian believes it is crucial that the community of Salford and beyond do their part to help the environment. 

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He said: “We all have a responsibility for the care of our planet, as some say ‘there is no planet B.’ Promoting biodiversity and creating more areas of biodiversity in Salford will help to protect and preserve our environment. 

“A great deal of our work is done with young people. Through our Forest Schools and horticultural activities, we hope to encourage activism in our future leaders.” 

Incredible Education are always eager for the public to get involved with them and help make positive changes to nature, biodiversity and sustainability.  

They are strongly encouraging people to visit the Cleavley Community Forest Gardens, particularly this Friday, to celebrate World Wildlife Day from 11am-2pm. 

Free tickets for the event are available to book here. 

Elsewhere in March, the Forest Gardens are open on a rotary basis depending on the week. The rota can be found below.

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