Greenlinks @ The Potting Shed is an allotment project where people who have been feeling low, struggled with poor mental health or feel they need their ‘emotional batteries charging’ perhaps after a long illness or bereavement can come to garden for leisure and pleasure in pleasant surroundings.
People are encouraged and supported to develop and learn skills which help to improve wellbeing and potentially lead to volunteering and employment opportunities.
Members of The Potting Shed gave a great pitch at our fifth Dragons’ Den in April 2017, and were awarded £100 by the voting audience (residents of Radstock and Westfield). Jon Durrant reports from the ground level on the many things the Potting Shed accomplished with the grant:
The members of the Potting Shed are residents of Radstock and Westfield and therefore it is vital that there are wellbeing groups in the community in which they live. Very often people who benefit from wellbeing groups like the Potting Shed cannot travel to attend such groups.
Amongst other things, the grant from Big Local has allowed the Potting Shed to attend 3 local events; Round About Radstock, Midsomer Norton Arts Festival and WAGS (Westfield Allotment and Gardening Society) Open Day with “Cress Heads” – a free activity encouraging Children to sow cress seeds for fun. There have been many benefits of attending these events – we have worked with some great people/organisations, we have promoted The Potting Shed Project and wellbeing, we have connected with the wider community and we have had fun and a sense of achievement from doing it. The Potting Shed’s involvement with Big Local has also initiated further collaborations with other great local organisations like SWALLOWS and Radstock Museum. Throughout the year, surplus produce from the Potting Shed has been donated to the SWALLOWS Cafe who have turned it into meals for sale. The money we were awarded was deliberately spent back into the local community to purchase what we needed – notably Thomsons Hardware – which has in turn lead to sponsorship from them and allowed us to distribute free wild flower seeds back to the community.http://www.bathmind.org.uk/greenlinks.asphttps://www.facebook.com/ThePottingShedRadstock/
