In 1919 Enham Place, previously part of a 1000 acres country estate within the hamlet of King’s Enham became the site of a pioneering village centre for ex-servicemen. It was one of the first of its kind, with 150 rehabilitation facility providing medical support and re-training from some of the thousands of men discharged from hospital following the Great War. It was this that formed the basis for the Enham Trust.
In World War II many of the injured servicemen from the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa were brought back to recover in Lower Enham. In 1945 a substantial gift of £225,000 was raised from the people of Cario to thank Britain for their support during the war. This money allowed the Enham charity to care for disabled ex-servicemen and enabled them to build their disabled ex-servicemen’s centre. This saw the entire village renamed Enham Alamein from 1945.
The Trust has plans to transform a currently neglected space in Enham Alamein into an accessible Community Orchard and Garden that the whole community can enjoy all year round. They are honoured to be one of the villages chosen by Hampshire County Council/The Forest Partnership as a prime location for a Community Orchard, benefiting the community, in celebration of King Charles III’s coronation.
The Enham Trust vision is to have a community green space that the whole village can access and enjoy, learning about gardening and growing fruit and benefitting from its harvest. It will be a social space; an area where people can work together towards a shared goal which they aim to be a self-sustaining, legacy project. They are engaging with the local community to create a sense of ownership from the beginning of the project that empowers them with the skills and confidence required to manage the space longer term with the Trusts support. The project aims to remove barriers to accessing the outdoors for disabled individuals, improving community wellbeing and allow positive community development and cohesion whilst preserving the history of this unique Hampshire village.
The funding we have received so far has been instrumental in bringing this project to life. James Tuttiett Charitable Trust’s generous donation has allowed us to purchase essential materials, accessible gardening tools, and put the key infrastructure in place, ensuring that the community can fully engage in and shape this unique space.