At Westmorland, Community sits at the heart of our ethos.
It’s one of the ways we do business. Each of our businesses champion their place, their producers and their people. Our Community focus is therefore about supporting the geographical areas where most of colleagues and producers live.
3p in every £1 of non-fuel sales goes to help the Gloucestershire Communities
GLOUCESTERSHIRE GATEWAY TRUST
Gloucestershire Gateway Trust (GGT) is a community development charity which supports the social housing communities in Gloucestershire. They approached John Dunning 20 years ago with the idea for Gloucester Services as a way of helping their target communities, creating jobs and developing skills.
GGT was established in 2007 to help bring Gloucester Services to life. Through this inspirational partnership with Gloucester Services and pioneering model of social investment, 3p in every £1 of non-fuel sales goes to help the Gloucestershire Communities. By October 2025, £5 million had been invested in worthwhile project in and around Gloucester and it has leveraged a further £35 million investment in these communities. The approach is very much about working in cooperation and collaboration with communities, so they take more of a lead, have more ownership and more control over their community life.
The impact of this investment is TEN years core funding for:
ALL PULLING TOGETHER
All Pulling Together was set up by the residents of the Park Estate in Stonehouse. It works to improve the quality of life on the estate and across Stonehouse, providing a wide variety of activities, classes and drop-in sessions including wellbeing, debt, housing and employment advice.
FAIR
SHARES
Fair Shares Community Time Banks brings people together through the giving of time, skills and acts of kindness, connecting them to share their experience and knowledge, building friendships and changing lives.
GL
COMMUNITIES
GL Communities supports positive change in large social housing estates in Gloucestershire. It nurtures and develops local skills and talents to help residents build thriving, aspiring communities.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust protects local wildlife for the future, managing nature reserves around the county, organising events to help people get closer to local wildlife and running projects that support communities to enjoy being outside.
PLAY GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Play Gloucestershire takes outdoor play to the children who need it most, harnessing the power of play to foster wellbeing, enable creativity, build confidence and develop social skills in family, school and community settings.
THE NELSON
TRUST
The Nelson Trust offers holistic, individualised support through its Gloucester Women’s Centre to help people overcome addiction and trauma and make positive and lasting changes to their lives.
TOGETHER IN
MATSON
Together in Matson at The Redwell Centre brings together people of all ages and abilities, supporting them to overcome barriers and promoting happiness, self-development and a positive sense of community.
THE
VENTURE
The Venture is a community adventure playground in White City that provides supervised open-access play sessions for young people and their families. It also offers free activities after school and during school holidays.
GL4 CIC
GL4 CIC works at the heart of Gloucester’s communities, creating opportunities for connection, creativity and support. Through events, partnerships and grassroots projects, they help bring people together and champion positive change across the GL4 area.
THE MATSON & ROBINSWOOD RESIDENTS GROUP
The Matson & Robinswood Residents Group gives local people a voice, bringing neighbours together to share ideas, support one another and help shape the future of their community through regular meetings, activities and collaboration.
The Matson, Robinswood & White City Community Partnership
The Matson, Robinswood & White City Community Partnership brings organisations and residents together to strengthen the local area, supporting initiatives that improve wellbeing, opportunity and pride across these vibrant Gloucester neighbourhoods.
READ WITH ME
Read with Me helps children discover the joy of reading by pairing them with supportive volunteers. Through regular one-to-one sessions, the programme builds confidence, encourages curiosity and helps young readers develop a lifelong love of books.
PROJECTS WE SUPPORT:
Blackbridge Community & Sports Hub, Podsmead
Opened in 2025 which was hugely rewarding for GGT who were instrumental in facilitating the creation of this £6.2 million community facility. GGT have committed to fund £100k of youth work for the next 4 years which leverage the funding to create this Hub. Debbie Etheridge and her team will use the fitness gym, sports pitch and social spaces to deliver youth work as a catalyst for positive change.
Limited Edition Business Skills Course
A partnership project with Gloucester Services, GGT and our farm shop suppliers, when Year 9 Gloucester Academy pupils work with one of our suppliers to learn the process of bringing a product to market. In 2025, the 4th year of the programme, the students worked with Hetty’s of Hettys Brownies to create a new brownie, learning about market research, cost analysis, product development, marketing and developing a sales pitch. The Fudgey Crunch Brownies went on sale in the Farmshops in June and were an instant success.
9 Children and Family Centres across Gloucester and the Forest of Dean
They have been run by GGT since April 2025. Alison Walker is leading the delivery, breathing new life into the centres after 30 years in education. The approach is groundbreaking as it’s been delivered by a consortium of community partners who have a proven track record in supporting children and families in this local area.
Delivery of the GEM project
Supporting over 2000 people over six years, to overcome challenges and move closed to work. 800 were employed and 400 went into education or training.
Bridging the Gap employability skills
The course was launched with Gloucester Services in 2017. Three course are delivered each year. Over 100 people from the local area who are not in employment, education or training have completed the course, with 2/3rds gaining employment at Gloucester Services.
30 Youth Clubs
Over 30 Youth Clubs have been facilitated by GGT delivering 450 youth work session in the last 12 months.
