The NEPHRA Allotment
2053. Dena Murphy
Dena Murphy, aged 94, from Manchester, is a retired nurse whose community allotment has transformed the lives of hundreds of young offenders completing community service and connected them with older people facing isolation.
Dena created the space 20 years ago from derelict land in New Moston, and realising she would need help to run the allotment, started the scheme with Community Payback. This has enabled Dena to combine her passion for growing things and helping people as well as teaching practical allotment gardening skills.
The 23 different types of produce grown on the allotment are used for a regular lunch club for local pensioners which is run through ‘Nephra Good Neighbours’, a community initiative which Dena also chairs. A number of former members from the Community Payback scheme help serve the lunches, providing a three course meal which reaches 120 people on a weekly basis.
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