In the last quarter Carol has provided 317 sessions of Horticultural Therapy to 97 patients. She describes life at Headley Court much better than I can so please read on...

The patients have been out with their cameras taking pictures of the plants and surroundings here and also on visits to RHS Wisley. They have now created a slide show of favourite photos. The good folk of RHS Wisley have welcomed us on three occasions now and have given us all their willow prunings for us to use for weaving, making plant supports etc. The patients have very much enjoyed our visits and it will become a regular feature of the Horticultural Therapy service as the benefits are huge. One patient said ‘I forgot about my pain, my legs and everything’, another who has difficulty standing for too long was amazed to have managed two and a half hours walking, not aware of pain or being unsteady – result! I am sure a visit to the Café helped things along too – I passed on the cake – the halo still shines!’

The product trial for Miraclegro is now complete. It made a vast difference to the cabbages that had the magic ingredient and the size difference was very noticeable. Obviously the green fingered touch from the patients must be taken into account! The flavour of the cabbages was excellent and thoroughly enjoyed by the recipients. I have made sure to include the wonderstuff when planting other veggies and looking forward to bumper crops.

We all need to be mindful of our own wellbeing so that we can give of our best. In a small way I hope having these sessions will do just that. I digress! The day arrived and the sun was shining. To my astonishment thirty-five members of staff attended. Very soon in small groups they were mowing lawns, preparing soil, sowing seeds, potting on, planting seedlings in the cut flower project bed, weeding, hugging the hens etc – everyone had a great time. Things just got better when the tea was made (with new shiny teapot), scones with jam and cream appeared courtesy of the Manager of Complex Trauma! Happy smiling faces all round!! I need to arrange the next one, especially when I need loads of jobs doing...

In our lovely new raised beds, (thank you Sutton and East Surrey Water Company) the broad beans are huge plants. Not my favourite veg (yes it is all about me) but I am reliably informed that if you pick the young pods and steam them they are just like mangetout. I have yet to try this... The garlic, onions and shallots are all doing well. I think the garlic will probably be ready in July and we cannot wait. I have introduced the patients to the delicacy of scapes. Scapes? What are scapes – the luscious stems of the flowers that magically appear if you are lucky. The stem and flower bud are all edible and have a wonderful flavour which gives a taste of what is to come. Yum, yum! The greenhouse is at bursting point with all the plants grown by the patients. So we now have a new rule. No patient is allowed home at the weekend unless they take as many plants as possible. One patient who has injured hands has been sowing seeds to help improve his hand function. They have all germinated and he has potted them on and they have just got bigger! He is persuaded to take home carboot fulls of plants each weekend. I check each Monday with him to see if they have been planted!

With so many plants it was essential the Farm Shop opened its doors again. The staff have parted with their money and taken quite a few plants off our hands but there are still more! So many tomatoes, so little time! Thankfully our lovely Scotts Miraclegro friends have supplied us with a pallet loaded with gro-bags. These will soon be in action in the greenhouse. (My bacon has been saved!). This company make a massive contribution to us with compost, gro bags and many other garden products and they make my work possible – ‘thank you’ are very small words that can never express our gratitude.

I have also purchased with Farm Shop money four new hens and will collect them towards the end of June. I plan to hatch some more chicks in July and the Tweets will return once again. So happy endings to an unfortunate event.

‘Home Thoughts’ garden is making progress and we have a meeting very soon with Sutton and East Surrey Water Company to discuss how they may be able to help with this project. They have been involved with building our existing ‘Test Track’ garden in the past, so have plenty of experience. I will keep you posted.

Gina and Rosie have been madly potting on, sowing, planting, weeding and watering. They are a fantastic support to me and the patients. The patients look forward to seeing them and having a catch up chat over a cup of tea. They really are valuable members of Team HighGround at Headley Court. Thank you ladies.

Finally, (I hope you haven’t fallen asleep!) more and more patients are showing interest in the land based industries and taking part in HighGround’s Rural Weeks. I am in the unique position of working with patients who are still serving but have great concerns about the future. To remain in the Services may no longer be an option – so many are facing medical discharge and have no idea what to do next. This is the point when HighGround can step in by giving practical help, good advice, support during difficult decision times and make connections. Anna has worked with many of my patients and her support/help makes all the difference. One patient said that being able to find out about employment possibilities through HighGround has made him feel more calm about the future. He also wants to attend a Rural Week and begin the preparation for his return to Civvy Street. He is one of a growing number who are coming to us.

I quite fancy going on a Rural Week myself but I don’t think I qualify!!

We will soon be harvesting our lovely crops, so watch out on Facebook for photos!

Carol

David Brooker, our new Chairman, has now been in post for 3 months and has said “This has been a tremendously rewarding first few months for me, working with the other Trustees, with Anna, and having the chance to meet many people who are contributing to HighGround’s success. There is a real sense of momentum as Carol and Gina carry forward the remarkable work at Headley Court and the Rural Weeks get under way at Plumpton College. Thank you to everyone – our staff, volunteers , funders and supporters – who are making this possible.”

I’m working hard on building relationships with potential sources of referrals as one of the strengths of the Rural Weeks is the fact that our reach is so broad so Future Horizons project who work with Early Service Leavers who have served in the military for less than 4 years, and Royal British Legion Industries who run the Lifeworks courses for veterans will refer from both ends of the age and rank spectrum and the Army Recovery Capability are now getting the message too which is great. The Officers Association continues to be a very good source of enquiries and the Poppy Factory, Combat Stress, and Help4Heroes via Recovery Career Services are now engaged which is terrific.

Still waiting to hear if our application for funding for the 3 year longditudinal study ‘An evaluation of HighGround and implications for veterans, Armed Forces charities and other organisations’ has been successful...

Rob and Rob our wonderful IT volunteers have been working with Maxton and after the first 2 Rural Weeks we will be able to test our systems and Kathryn and Marcela are working hard on the next phase of the website so we can communicate much better with everyone who wants to support us and find out more about what we do and how we help serving personnel and veterans.

I’d just like to say thank-you to everyone who has put such a lot of faith in HighGround to have helped us to get to the point where we are about to deliver our first Rural Weeks – it is a pivotal time and by the next newsletter there will be some great stories to tell and lives will have been changed and improved.

Anna BC.