Wildside Activity Centre

Wildside Activity Centre is a small charity offering outdoor and nature related activities for health, fun and learning. Our unique canalside oasis in the heart of Wolverhampton is a welcoming place for everyone. In many different ways, we get people outdoors and learning about nature. All ages, all abilities – we reconnect people with nature – from toddlers to the elderly.

The James Beattie Trust has given us great encouragement and flexible help. Their award this year is supporting our work with long-term unemployed people which takes volunteers to do outdoor conservation work such as canal bank renovation, building a pond for a school or creating a sensory garden for a residential home.

Many of these volunteers have faced multiple challenges such as substance misuse or learning difficulties and for most of them, unemployment has shattered their confidence. We work with them to re-build confidence, social skills, work readiness and practical vocational skills and are seeing an increase in the numbers now successfully entering work.

Thank you so much.