Emily DennisA care farm in south Norfolk, which will offer therapeutic, training and work experience opportunities for adults and children facing difficulties, has won funding to get it off the ground.Emily Dennis

A care farm in south Norfolk, which will offer therapeutic, training and work experience opportunities for adults and children facing difficulties, has won funding to get it off the ground.

Clinks Care Farm, in Toft Monks, will welcome its first farm helpers next month after receiving �3,500 from The May Gurney Foundation to pay for safety equipment and insurance.

The first of its kind in the area, the care farm adopts a concept popular in the Netherlands, and will provide a place for disadvantaged and unemployed people to gain hands-on experience of working on a farm.

Those set to benefit include young people at risk of exclusion from education, and people with learning difficulties, autism, mental health problems and dementia.

The farm will take referrals from Norfolk and Suffolk health and social care organisations and prescriptions through local GPs.

Also benefitting from the latest round of donations from May Gurney are young homeless men and people with dyslexia via grants made to Norwich organisations the St Edmunds Society and Indigo Foundation.

The St Edmunds Society, which provides accommodation for homeless men under the age of 30, has received �3,000 to help residents gain skills in plastering, tiling, painting and decorating.

And the Indigo Foundation, a one-stop centre to help people with dyslexia, has received �2,500 to increase the number of tuition sessions delivered to unemployed people living with the condition.

If you are a Norfolk-based charity and would like to find out if you are eligible for May Gurney's funding, contact Slava Puttock at Norfolk Community Foundation on 01603 623958.