St Werburgh's City Farm launches £30k crowdfunder to get through winter amid cost of living crisis
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A city farm in the heart of Bristol has launched a £30,000 fundraiser to help it survive through winter.
St Werbergh's City Farm is free to visit, providing a slice of the countryside in the heart of the city with animals including sheep, pigs, goats and chickens.
The centre also offers workshops and activities for school children, young people and adults with learning disabilities.
Before Covid it generated half of its running costs through events - including weddings, school visits and private hire - but trading has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
With the rising cost of living, the charity now needs to raise £30,000.
It says this will cover the costs of staffing, activity resources and overheads until its income recovers.
Director Jess Clynewood has been working on the farm for the past 10 years.
She stressed the farm is not facing any immediate risk of closure, but the money is needed to ensure its services can continue all through the winter.
"I think as anybody who runs any organisation of any size really, there's a certain amount of worry about how things are going to go with the cost of living crisis," she said.
"Obviously we want to make sure that we can pay our staff in a way that they can continue to pay their bills, so there's definitely a lot of pressure coming from a lot of different angles at the moment."
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