what people say
I have worked in partnership with A.P.P.L.E. in Acton Park for the past ten years in my role at Bollo Brook Youth Centre, where I have been the Centre Manager for the past six years. In that time, I have been repeatedly and constantly overawed by the quality and depth of the work that A.P.P.L.E. undertakes, working with large numbers of young people from across Acton and beyond to provide a creative, vibrant and inspiring place for them to try out new activities, make new friends and grow in confidence and experience. I always tell people that you can recognise an ‘A.P.P.L.E young person’ – whether it be their willingness to try the new and unfamiliar, their openness to others or their desire to contribute to their community and the world beyond, the impact that attending A.P.P.L.E. has on young people is both significant and long-lasting. With its mix of sports, arts and food, food, food, all in a warm, safe and innovative environment, A.P.P.L.E. is an outstanding example of the power of high quality play and youth work.
Colin Brent
Senior Youth Worker - Acton
Bollo Brook Youth Centre
“We are encouraging our residents to see their local parks as venues and places for a much wider range of activities that support and improve communities.This builds on the excellent example APPLE have set with their programme of youth engagement and activities in the park over many years which has strengthened and improved the local community.
The work APPLE do with young people is invaluable especially the way they are able to engage with hard to reach groups and provide the support they need to help them flourish."
Richard Strange, Senior Project Officer, Ealing Council Leisure & Parks
I’ve known A.P.P.L.E since it started in 1996 when I was 10. They’re based in Acton Park, opposite where we lived. And I spent a few weeks of a summer volunteering there when I was at drama college. It’s a really great place that makes a difference to all the young people who go there. A.P.P.L.E manages to make people happy and confident about themselves. I’ve always been really impressed at how enthusiastic the young people are and how willing they are to try new things. The Kitchen and Garden project will make a big difference by giving them more room and resources and allowing more children and young people to learn how to cook. Apple is very close to my heart, it also the heart of Acton. It needs your contributions to keep going in the amazing spirit as it has done since I was a wee nipper!
Kit Harington - Actor, in Game Of Thrones
As Treasurer of A.P.P.L.E I constantly see what an inspirational and unique organization it is – giving children and young people the opportunity to develop their self-confidence, independence and skills through the creative and fun activities of gardening, cooking, art, sport or camping in the countryside. And the training that APPLE offers, whether for events management or arts leadership, has proved invaluable to many young people in their life development.
Tessa Swinthinbank - Treasurer of A.P.P.L.E
Just like learning a language or music, if you start children cooking from an early age, it becomes second nature. Of course, it can get a bit messy but the pay-off is that in years to come they’ll be able to cook with confidence, to feed themselves properly and be able to make informed decisions about the food they buy. There isn’t a core school subject that isn’t covered through cooking and the joy of it is it’s all wrapped up as fun in the kitchen. It’s my opinion that teaching a kid to cook is as important as anything else taught in school and the fact it’s forgotten about is a huge educational system failing but this makes the work that A.P.P.L.E does even more vital’
Barney Desmazery - BBC Good Food, food editor-at-large
The best way for children to learn about healthy nutritious cooking is through fun and sociable 'hands-on' experiences, and this is exactly what A.P.P.L.E provide. Not only are children of all ages given the opportunity learn how to grow their own produce and cook their own meals but they'll see for themselves just how much enjoyment and satisfaction this can all bring. This invaluable knowledge will stay with these children throughout their lives, and as they continue to grow so will their knowledge and interest in the food they eat.
By supporting A.P.P.L.E you'll be helping them to provide these important life skills for so many disadvantaged children in your local area.
Jo Pratt - Food writer
It's always a joy to visit A.P.P.L.E. It's a hive of activity with children of a wide range of ages all occupied with a project of some sort or just playing together. A.P.P.L.E's ruling principle of having the adults step back and let the children and young people run the Art Block means that those who attend work together in harmony and with a maturity not often found elsewhere.
At Acton Community Forum's last AGM, the young people of A.P.P.L.E supplied all the refreshments – mini-pizzas, cheese straws and other vegetarian items – which they made themselves and produced on time. They were superb.
I have always felt that A.P.P.L.E is very, very special – a one of its kind that should be duplicated throughout the UK. It would be criminal if its work had to be curtailed or stopped because of a lack of funding.
Nancy Duin - Chair, Board of Trustees, Acton Community Forum
"APPLE is simply inspirational. I’ve known it since it started in my local park and it’s wonderful to see an organization instilling in children and young people that sense of independence and possibility through a whole raft of creative activities: growing strawberries, cooking for 60, painting murals, skateboarding, making films, camping…. What a phenomenal way to develop your skills and self-confidence for life."
Lord John Bird - Founder The Big Issue
Chair, Board of Trustees, Acton Community Forum
" Due to the cuts in local authority funding there has been a reduction in the services directly available to young people within the Acton area. We rely heavily on the ability and skills of voluntary/ charitable organisation to reach those young people most in need. We work closely with A.P.P.L.E to ensure that we share knowledge, skills and resource where we can.
Sara Constable – Youth Manager, LB Ealing Youth and Connexions
“The council have been working with A.P.P.L.E for many years on a wide range of projects. Having A.P.P.L.E based in Acton Park is very important to the council and the local community. They provide a fantastic hub of community activities for children/young people and are an invaluable resource locally. The proposed skate park will be an excellent opportunity to involve APPLE in the design and development of the skate park and to utilise their skills and contacts to ensure the skate park is a success both in the short and long term.”
Richard Strange. LB Ealing -Parks Development Manager.
There are lots of reasons why children who are having difficult home lives may be afraid of trying new things. But at A.P.P.L.E they believe that every child should be given the confidence to try everything whether that’s making a fire for the pizza oven, building a go-cart, cooking lunch, growing their own fruit and veg or learning to skateboard. A.P.P.L.E is a safe space to learn something new.
Everyone at A.P.P.L.E gets to learn to cook, healthy, low cost, family meals from scratch using fresh fruit and vegetables that they helped to grow. They work together from peeling the potatoes to doing the washing up. Kids at A.p.p.l.e know there is nothing better than sitting at a table together sharing a meal they helped to prepare.
Sharon Duce - Actor and Trustee
Working with A.P.P.L.E on our youth panel project has been a fantastic experience - for the young people, for us as staff and for Gunnersbury. The creativity and expertise of A.P.P.L.E's artists and young arts leaders really engaged our young people and inspired them to create a beautiful installation in an incredibly short space of time. We are lucky to have A.P.P.L.E so close by and they are an asset to the local community. We are really excited about working with them again in the future.
Ellie Lewis-Nunes - Outreach Officer, Gunnersbury Park
The enthusiasm, creative skills and innovative ideas of the artists and youth arts leaders from A.P.P.L.E. made this an incredibly successful arts project at Gunnersbury. They engaged, supported and challenged the young people to create a wonderful art installation and produced artwork of a very high quality in only a few days. A.P.P.L.E. are a wonderful local asset. We are very pleased that we have been able to form such a strong working relationship with them, and look forward to working with them again in the near future.
Lisa D'Agostino -Education and Lifelong Learning Officer, Gunnersbury Park Museum
I was surprised and impressed by the artwork produced by the young people in such a short space of time.
Sam Barker - Artist
The 4 Youth Arts Leaders did very well, very mature for their ages.
Jake Barker – Artist
It enables the children to become individuals and they become their own people which is great for the children. They make new friends. I usually drop the kids off here and do what I have to do and come back later. The equipment, the artwork, everything you do here is amazing! It teaches the children how to cook, how to interact with adults and children. The older ones look after the younger ones which is great.
Christine (parent)
Go to our about us page to find out more about A.P.P.L.E.
