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The Good Life Flax Project 2022

In partnership with Super Slow Way’s Homegrown/Homespun project the Good Life project piloted growing flax in Pendle in 2022 with great success!!!

This project provided opportunities for our volunteers to grow a crop, harvest it and be involved in the process of turning the flax into a piece of linen fabric.

  • On the 20th April we prepared the soil and sowed flax seeds in a raised bed and woad seeds into seed trays. Germination was slow and patchy initially but by June the flax and woad were growing well.
  • 13th July purple poppies growing amongst the blue flax made a beautiful display.

We harvested the flax on 11th August. Harvesting involves pulling the stems by hand so the whole plant, roots and all come up. Loose soil is easily shaken off and the next stage is retting or rotting the outer stems.

The flax can be left on the ground to dew ret (rot) but needs turning frequently or laid in trays of water to rot the outer stem.

We left our flax in trays of water.

The next step is stooking, stacking a pile of flax and tying it into a bundle to dry. When the stems snap easily and the outer stem flakes off the fibre is ready for carding.

After carding with wool combs the flax is ready to spin. There was a lot of residue that could be processed further to extract the shorter lengths called tow but we didn’t have the time to do this. The process of producing the flax fibre ready for spinning.

This is the amount of flax that we produced from our 4 metre plot. The stems could have been retted longer and the stooks left to dry further. The stems that were at the perfect dryness snapped easily, shed the outer stem easily and produced long lengths of fibre.

Unfortunately our woad dying was not successful. We made the dye bath which produced the typical sherry red liquid and added washing soda and poured to increase the oxygen but the required blue colour was very pale and on adding spectrolite to produce the magical blue didn’t happen. We had a wishy washy blue, green, yellow colour but the process was demonstrated.

We dyed some of the flax with some blue dye and made a simple loom from a cardboard box. We had a go at weaving and wove all the fibre and produced our piece of linen!

We added some embroidery and backed the linen fabric onto a wall hanging.

Not exactly a pair of jeans and the finish is quite rough but we experienced the process from seed to fabric and learned a lot along the way.

The Good Life Flax project grew this piece of linen from seed in 2022 – what a marvellous achievement!

Everyone on the project played a part in sowing, weeding, cultivating, harvesting, retting, stooking, breaking, carding, spinning, dyeing and weaving.

Fantastic Results for PLT!

Following the production of Pendle Leisure Trust’s first Social Return on Investment report in April 2019, another one has been produced by an external evaluator – and again, demonstrates the value of Pendle Leisure Trust to Pendle.

After a difficult couple of years during the pandemic, this report shows the huge impact the Trust’s facilities and activities make to people’s lives.

A creative approach was undertaken to engage with customers and those who took part in the evaluation responded very positively.

The evaluator focused on three main categories to ask about changes to people which were the impact of physical health, mental health and social impact.

The results show the extra value, such as the social value and outcomes that the Trust makes to the residents of Pendle.

The stand-out results confirm that:

In addition to the headline stats, the feedback derived from carrying out this evaluation is really encouraging.

Quotes from customers include:

“It’s clear that Pendle Leisure Trust continues to provide value for money and has maintained its Social Return on Investment figure even through the challenging time of the pandemic.”

Eating The Canal

Eating the Canal is a project exploring the edible possibilities of The Super Slow Way Linear Park, a 20 mile stretch of the Leeds & Liverpool canal running from Blackburn to Pendle.

What has Pendle Leisure Trust been up to – and achieved – in the last 12 months?

How many people do you think visited our facilities between April 2021 and March 2022?

Do you know what we invested in?

Have you seen – or used – the new equipment and unique functional training suite we have had installed?

All the facts, figures and notable achievements have been compiled in our Annual Report.

Following a very challenging year, the Trust’s major accomplishment was to survive and achieve full business recovery following the COVID-19 Pandemic, which it did with support from our key partner Pendle Council.

Pendle’s premier leisure provider not only did this, but achieved so much more as well – including developments and investments across its facilities.

With physical and mental health and well-being at the forefront of everything it does, the Trust continues to deliver lifestyle improvement and wellness opportunities through a range of activities and services at its seven facilities throughout Nelson, Colne and Barnoldswick.

The Trust’s aim is also to be environmentally responsible and it achieved another positive step with a reduction in energy consumption in 2021/2022.

Alison Goode, Chief Executive of Pendle Leisure Trust, said: “Although times have been challenging these last couple of years, we survived and can be proud of what we have achieved.

“Now it’s a case of onwards and upwards to get us back to where we were just before the pandemic – in one of the best positions we had been in for years – and to plough ahead with some very exciting projects we have in the pipeline.”


Read all the facts and figures here.

We’ve created a video of our achievements – please take a look.

Recent News

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Last week some of the Tuesday women’s group paid a visit to Paul’s farm to check out the ‘tramper’ that had been on loan. We all had fun trying it out and it’s such a wonderful way for those who struggle with mobility to get out and about in the countryside 😀 ... See MoreSee Less

Last week some of the Tuesday women’s group paid a visit to Paul’s farm to check out the ‘tramper’ that had been on loan. We all had fun trying it out and it’s such a wonderful way for those who struggle with mobility to get out and about in the countryside 😀Image attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment

Yesterday afternoon team Helen, in our women’s group, tackled some of the plants in the nursery that had been a bit neglected; weeding and tidying them up. What a fantastic job they did! 🪴😀 ... See MoreSee Less

Yesterday afternoon team Helen, in our women’s group, tackled some of the plants in the nursery that had been a bit neglected; weeding and tidying them up. What a fantastic job they did! 🪴😀Image attachmentImage attachment

Sign up to support Pendle Leisure Trust - The Goodlife Project on #easyfundraising and raise FREE donations for us with your Christmas shopping. There are over 8,000 brands, including M&S, Argos, John Lewis and Tesco that will donate to us for free! Plus, once you've raised your first £5, easyfundraising will double it! Sign up today, it only takes a minute: join.easyfundraising.org.uk/plttgp/RD0HQD/c2s/WG2LKi8l/Q3236/facebook/ ... See MoreSee Less

Here are some pics of the hard work the Tuesday afternoon women’s group did to the ‘back yard’ area, a couple of months ago - what a difference!

This space will be used for sessions on growing plants in a small space, once we have rendered and painted the walls… 🪴

Our women’s group runs each Tuesday afternoon with from 1-3pm. Please get in touch with Sam at the project, if you’d like to join us 😀.
... See MoreSee Less

Here are some pics of the hard work the Tuesday afternoon women’s group did to the ‘back yard’ area, a couple of months ago - what a difference! 
This space will be used for sessions on growing plants in a small space, once we have rendered and painted the walls… 🪴 
Our women’s group runs each Tuesday afternoon with from 1-3pm.  Please get in touch with Sam at the project, if you’d like to join us 😀.Image attachment

Glad to be able to support this with our delicious produce grown on the allotments 🥕🍎🍆 ... See MoreSee Less

Glad to be able to support this with our delicious produce grown on the allotments 🥕🍎🍆Image attachmentImage attachment

Over the last 6 weeks we have had the pleasure of sharing the allotment with a lovely group of ladies from the Hilla Hub in the local community, here in Nelson. The photos capture a selection of the activities we did together…😀🌱 ... See MoreSee Less

Over the last 6 weeks we have had the pleasure of sharing the allotment with a lovely group of ladies from the Hilla Hub in the local community, here in Nelson. The photos capture a selection of the activities we did together…😀🌱Image attachmentImage attachment+3Image attachment

Spooky faces created by some of our volunteers and UCLAN medical students last week with some of our homegrown pumpkins 🎃 ... See MoreSee Less

Spooky faces created by some of our volunteers and UCLAN medical students last week with some of our homegrown pumpkins 🎃Image attachment

Another productive session with our Women’s Group from a few weeks ago. We are making good progress on the allotment and the plot is shaping up nicely… ... See MoreSee Less

Another productive session with our Women’s Group from a few weeks ago. We are making good progress on the allotment and the plot is shaping up nicely…Image attachment

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Wow what a lovely job you have made of this. 😍

Look at the difference we made in just a couple of hours! Our new Women's Group at The Good Life Project, runs on Tuesdays from 1-3pm and we are currently revitalising our overgrown allotment plot. It you would like to join us for horticultural and occasional craft activities please speak to one of the Good Life team on 07753 778619 or leave a message for Sam 🍃 ... See MoreSee Less

Look at the difference we made in just a couple of hours! Our new Womens Group at The Good Life Project, runs on Tuesdays from 1-3pm and we are currently revitalising our overgrown allotment plot. It you would like to join us for horticultural and occasional craft activities please speak to one of the Good Life team on 07753 778619 or leave a message for Sam 🍃Image attachment

2 CommentsComment on Facebook

Wow Sam, I've noticed the development each week, on holiday, will join you soon 💚👏😊xx

Would the Good Life Project be interested in using our site iBrierfield Children's Community Allotment - we have a fabulous new large undercover outdoor wood gazebo.

Welcome and thank you to our new supporters for signing up to support us by shopping online through easyfundraising, it really makes a difference.

Please sign up too, it's easy and completely FREE! 8,100 brands will donate to us when you do your usual online shopping with them - at no extra cost to you! www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/plttgp/?invite=EJ4C4M%26referral-campaign=c2s%26utm_campaign=ad...
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Photos from Pennine Lancashire Community Farm's post ... See MoreSee Less

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You can WIN £100 donations for Pendle Leisure Trust - The Goodlife Project by entering the #easyfundraising Summer of Fun daily prize draw until 16th July! For an entry, visit their competition page and click on any of the listed brands. This donation prize would make a BIG difference to us! If you're not supporting us on easyfundraising yet, now's the perfect time to get involved. Sign up here: www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/plttgp?&utm_medium=Email-share&utm_campaign=summer-of-fun ... See MoreSee Less

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