Garden wins £93,000 to help mental health
People suffering the debilitating effects of social isolation due to the Covid19 pandemic will be encouraged to join a community garden project, thanks to a £93,000 Lottery grant.
St Peter’s Community Garden, an acre of church land in the Cardiff suburb of Fairwater, is creating a therapeutic centre to support people suffering from social isolation or exclusion, post-pandemic. The “social prescribing” project aims to provide a caring, supportive environment, where people can enjoy the benefits of gardening and social activities.
The grant from the National Lottery Community Fund will pay for two part-time staff for the project over the next three years.
The idea for the project came when the management team saw how the closure of the garden and adjoining hall during lockdown had badly affected those who had benefitted from therapeutic activity in the garden and the range of social events at the hall. Researching loneliness and social isolation, they discovered that they had similar risks to mortality as cigarette smoking.
“Plainly, the restrictions of the pandemic have had a negative impact on mental and physical health for many,” says Fr Colin Sutton, vicar of St Peter’s Church and chair of the Community Hall and Garden management team.
“This grant means we can now build capacity so that our project can expand opportunities to alleviate social isolation and the negative effects on mental health. It will enable our volunteers to re-activate and extend the resources of St. Peter’s Community Hall and Garden to address the negative social impact of the pandemic.”
The project will build on the community work already underway at the garden, which has been transformed over the past 12 years from a piece of scrub land around St Peter’s Church, to a green oasis for the whole community. It has won several environmental awards, including the Green Flag and the Silver Eco Church award from the A Rocha organization. It includes a pond, beehives, vegetable plots, a quiet garden and also a Welsh heritage orchard with a plum tree planted by HRH The Princess Royal. The garden is looked after by an army of volunteers, as well as children from the neighbouring Fairwater Primary School, people with learning disabilities and young offenders and former prisoners.
“We hope this project will get more people into the garden to enjoy it. We want it to be available for some of the most isolated and vulnerable people in our community, showing them that they really matter and can contribute and have a sense of fulfilment. We have already seen people move from total isolation to full social involvement and know there will be many more who will need to make this journey post pandemic.”