Mary Clear and her fellow volunteers are on a mission to make Todmorden self-sufficient in staple foods. Within 10 years they want their community to produce and buy their own fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products. 25 years ago Todmorden had 44 allotment sites, but now there's only four.
Incredible Edible launched their mission in 2008 and just eight months later, the local council, Calderdale, gave permission to plant 500 fruit trees around the local playing fields and are continuing to look for plots to turn into new allotments. Incredible Edible has planted in municipal tubs by the bus stop, on the railway platform, at the school, in the cemetery, outside the doctors' surgery. The aim: to inspire others to get growing in their own back gardens, on balconies, outside their offices ... wherever they can.
Mary's efforts, completely voluntary, together with support from the Community Foundation for Calderdale, have helped to create a community driven initiative that has touched the lives of not only hundreds of local people, but has informed and inspired communities throughout the country and beyond. She has helped to open people's minds to the power that a community has to create a better future for them and their families, influenced local community thinking in terms of planning, regeneration and education, and built bridges between the private and public sector to create opportunities for investment that previously had not been realised.