Home and garden retailer Robert Dyas has announced the winner of their Nominate Your Community Space competition – Day Drive Community Garden in Failsworth, Manchester.

The team of volunteers put forward the space – once an unused garage site – to provide food for those without easy access to healthy food, offer workshops to empower individuals with new skills, and create a calming social hub in an otherwise urban environment. The location of the site, Failsworth West, is part of Oldham, the most deprived borough in Greater Manchester*. Half of wards in Oldham are in the most deprived 20% in England overall, including Failsworth West* – as is Oldham as a whole**.

The retailer’s nationwide competition encouraged people to nominate a green community space in their local area, which had the potential to be transformed for the mental and physical health of their community. It ran from 19th March to 18th May, with the prize on offer £2.5k worth of gardening equipment. This included a summerhouse, greenhouse, raised planters, a variety of garden tools and more.

The competition was part of Robert Dyas’ ongoing Plant & Pause campaign, now in its third year, which encourages the nation to garden their way to better mental health. Like the campaign’s previous two years, Robert Dyas has teamed up with the gardening-for-health charity Thrive.

With over 40 years of experience, using gardening alongside Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) to help improve people’s physical and psychological health, they’re a great fit for the project.

Theo Paphitis, Robert Dyas’ owner and chairman and one of the judges of the competition, said: “While it was a tough decision due to the high calibre of entries, the other judges and I decided that our winner this year had to be Day Drive Community Garden due to their plans for the benefit and prosperity of the local community, and the value our prizes could bring. It was a fantastic entry – congratulations to them!”

Asaf Efraim, lead volunteer at the Day Drive project, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have received this recognition – it's a lovely boost for the amazing people who helped transform the space into what it is now. There's a lot more work ahead in our newly established garden, and it's so motivational to know that others recognise our effort and see the value in what we're creating.”

The judges included Robert Dyas chairman, Theo Paphitis; The Sun Gardening Editor and Associate Head of Features, Veronica Lorraine; multi-RHS-award-winning Cloud Gardener and Chelsea Flower Show presenter, Jason Williams; Thrive charity’s Training & Education Officer, Mark Emery; and Robert Dyas’ Marketing Manager, Donna Jackson.