Armagh apples help keep a weekly welcome open

Small apples are helping older people in rural County Armagh get out, share lunch and meet friends.

Macha’s Orchard turns hard-to-sell Bramleys into juice and apple powder, helping fund Richmount Rural Community Association in Scotch Street, near Portadown.

Founder Joe Garvey wanted to reduce waste while making the group less dependent on public funding. The social enterprise says it gently dries apple peel and cores for its powder and reinvests profits in community services.

That income helps support the centre and its bus. Heather Black, who lives in the countryside and does not drive, is collected from home for the weekly group. She told BBC News NI she had made many friends there.

The business remains small. The reporting gives no financial totals or measured reduction in waste, and Garvey acknowledges it cannot solve the wider food-waste problem.

For 88-year-old Carson Troughton, however, the group provides his one regular social outing each week. Making more use of local fruit is helping keep that welcome available.

Sources

• BBC News NI — reporting from the orchard and community group
• Macha’s Orchard — processing and community ownership