Fact Sheets

ABF The Soldiers’ Charity will have its first ever show garden at Chelsea Flower Show which starts on 19th May and HighGround is ‘doing its bit’ to help.

The garden, designed by Charlotte Rowe and generously sponsored by Coutts and Bechtel is called No Man’s Land and marks the centenary of World War One.

As the British Army’s national charity since 1944, The Soldiers’ Charity (www.soldierscharity.org/Chelsea)  provides financial grants to individuals, and gives grants to specialist charities which support the wider Army family.

Carol Sales is employed by HighGround to provide a Horticultural Therapy service for the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre’s patients at Headley Court in Surrey and The Soldiers’ Charity is the lead funder of this 3 year pilot.

Horticultural Therapy is the use of plants to enable people to get therapeutic benefit and is helping the patients at Headley Court by increasing mobility and strength, improving concentration and memory  and teaching them new skills which they can take home and use with their families as their rehabilitation from injury progresses.

Carol and her patients have been growing on some of the plants which will be used in No Man’s Land and Anna Baker Cresswell, Founder and Development Director of HighGround said, “We are delighted to be able to play a small part in the life of this garden and Carol and her team are looking forward to seeing the final creation.”

HighGround is a charity which has been formed to assist in the transition to civilian life of individuals who have served in HM Armed Forces through the delivery of Rural Experience Weeks alongside Horticultural Therapy. The Charity’s aim is to provide training, career advice and insight into land-based jobs, careers and vocational opportunities to enable these people to make informed choices that lead towards employment and fulfilment in civilian life.

Anna Baker Cresswell.

anna@highground-uk.org

07951 495 272

HighGround was registered as a Charity in March 2013.

It was started by Anna Baker Cresswell to provide Service Leavers, Reservists and Veterans with advice and opportunities about jobs and careers in the countryside.

The other Founding Trustees are Kingsley Donaldson, a serving Army officer who is currently Commanding Officer of the Royal Yeomanry, and Stuart Harley, a London-based financier.

Thanks to the generosity of the Annington Group, HighGround has secured offices at the Headquarters of the London Scottish Regiment in Westminster and the Charity is currently fundraising to build a small team of staff.

Colonel David Steele MBE is Director of Operations and an office manager will be appointed in early 2014.

A Development Board drawn from a wide range of subject matter experts is currently being formed to guide HighGround’s pioneering work to provide alternative career opportunities in the land-based sector for those who have served in HM Forces. 

Partnerships with the National Memorial Arboretum, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Horticultural Traces Association (HTA), National Farmers Union (NFU), Country Landowners Association (CLA) and others are in development.

HighGround currently receives no statutory funding and relies entirely on grant-making trusts and public donation for its income.

The Board of Trustees has a five-year business plan which is updated and re-adopted annually and further details of funding requirements and ten-year vision are available on request.

Charity Registered in England and Wales: Registration Number 1151 225

Company Limited by Guarantee Reg No: 823 6843

Legal advisors: Bates Wells and Braithwaite LLP

Auditors: Haysmacintyre

For more information:

www.highground-uk.org 

Follow us on Facebook

Media enquiries to Anna BC anna@highground-uk.org or 07951 495 272.

HighGround is a charity which has been formed to assist in the transition to civilian life of individuals who have served in HM Forces. 

Many individuals working in this sector may experience physical and mental health issues as a result of service to their Country. HighGround’s vision is to provide expert advice on and insight into alternative land-based jobs, career and vocational opportunities for these individuals to support their transition to civilian life via education, training and future employment. 

Support will be delivered to Service Leavers, Reservists and Veterans through individually-tailored programmes including professional and practical advice, leading towards employment and fulfilment. 

HighGround’s model will include a five-day residential Rural Week in supportive rural environments UK-wide, with expert advisors in all aspects of Land management and production; Animal health and welfare and Environmental industries and ongoing social support and formal and informal advice from HighGround’s staff and networks is an integral part of HighGround’s vision.

 HighGround will institute an empirical system of measuring success and outcomes of the service being provided. The organisation’s research and evaluation team will include Professor Joe Sempik, Dr Zoe Morrison and Dr Jamie Hacker-Hughes, all experts in their academic fields of green care, social science and military mental health. 

The land-based sector can be divided into three primary categories as follows:

Land management and production

Animal health and welfare

Environmental industries

During the Rural Weeks which form the core of HighGround’s service to beneficiaries, subject matter experts from  subsectors of the above categories will visit the countryside environment and talk to beneficiaries about farming, forestry, conservation, landscape design, the qualifications needed to work in each sector and  relevant training and further education courses.

Self-employment and career management strategies will be adapted to each individual, depending on his or her stage of transition to civilian life, and at every Rural Week location there will be a week-long project such as building a new pheasant pen or planting some new trees for HighGround beneficiaries to gain experience of land-based work and ‘get together’.

The Rural Weeks will complement the work already being done by the Sorted! consortium of Officers’ Association (OA); PoppyScotland; Regular Forces Employment Association; Royal British Legion Industries; OA Scotland; the Poppy Factory and the Royal British Legion by allowing individuals the time to try different options to enable them to make an informed choice about their future while in a supportive, positive and environment. 

Pilot Rural Weeks.

Three pilot Rural Weeks will be delivered in spring 2014 in Kent, Shropshire and Dumfriesshire and Dr Zoe Morrison will conduct an evaluation of these weeks to assess outcomes and value for money.

Rollout of the Rural Weeks UK-wide will commence in Autumn 2014.

For more information,  please contact david.steele@highground-uk.org 

www.highground-uk.org  

A Service Level Agreement to provide a Horticultural Therapy service at Headley Court was agreed in September 2013 between HighGround and the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC).

Thanks to the generosity of ABF, the Soldiers’ Charity, and the Westminster Foundation, a Horticultural Therapist (HT) was recruited in December 2013 and will start work at Headley Court in February 2014.

The DMRC is a tri-Service facility  in 85 acres of landscaped gardens in Surrey.  

Staff and patients at Headley Court work together towards a single aim: to help Service men and women to rejoin their units and get back to work as quickly as possible.

The multi-disciplinary approach adopted by DMRC means that specialist medical officers, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, fitness instructors, speech and language therapists, cognitive therapists and social workers all contribute to patients’ return to work, which is at the core of the Headley Court ethos.

HighGround’s Horticultural Therapist will be embedded in the Occupational Therapy Team and will provide a year-round Horticultural Therapy service for a delegated clinical caseload of patients with a range of minor to complex needs.

Horticultural Therapy sessions in the Headley Court garden will be conducted all year round  throughout the week, and the HT’s duties will include site maintenance and supply, local liaison with the Unit and documentation of patient sessions.

Horticultural Therapy can be defined as ‘the use of plants by a trained professional as a medium through which certain clinically-defined goals can be met.’ (THRIVE, 1999). It helps to improve balance, fine motor skills and concentration, mobility, confidence and self-esteem. 

Helpful links:

Association of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture Practitioners www.asthp.org.uk

American Horticultural Therapy Association www.ahta.org 

Healing Landscapes www.healinglandscapes.org