Gardens scheme grants help thousands of people

Funding worth £247,502 has been given to 95 community garden projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the National Garden Scheme. From social welfare and gardening projects that help the isolated, the disabled and the disenfranchised to support for community orchards, food banks and social prescribing projects at GP surgeries, the funding provides a much-needed boost to those working on or initiating community garden projects. Many of the funded community projects in turn open for the National Garden Scheme completing a virtuous circle of giving and giving back. Included among the projects that have benefited are Rhubarb Farm, Nottinghamshire, which provides training and volunteering opportunities to 60 ex-offenders, drug and alcohol misusers, older people, school students, people with mental and physical ill health and learning disabilities. The project received…