£20,000 from the Morrisons Foundation to buy minibus

We are celebrating being awarded £20,000 of funding from the Morrisons Foundation to purchase our first minibus. This will enable us to provide increased access for members and students to wellbeing courses and allow more off site social activities and day trips.
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Growing Together Shoeburyness Awarded Community Green Flag

The garden is among a record-breaking 1,797 UK parks and green spaces that received a prestigious Green Flag Community Award – the mark of a quality park or green space.
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AGM scheduled for 18 October

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday 18 October at 34 Rocheway, Rochford. We are delighted to announce that Professor Jules Pretty OBE FRSB FRSA,

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Environment & Society at the University of Essex, will be making the key speech. The meeting will start at 2.30pm, all welcome.

REACH Recovery College

The REACH Recovery College, which is managed by Trust Links, now has 337 students enrolled with 12 courses being run this Autumn semester. Newly produced courses for this semester include ‘Dealing with Panic Attacks’ and ‘Healthy Living’. A student union and new prospectus are being launched soon.
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Walking Together – 16 September

Come and join us for our annual sponsored walk. This year it will be a 8.5 mile circular from our Rochford site. A shorter more accessible walk is also planned.
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Event Volunteers Needed

Are you well organised and love getting out and about in the community. We are currently looking to recruit volunteers to help out at our events particularly setting up beforehand and clearing away after the event.
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St Laurence Orchard Work Party

We maintain the historic St Laurence Orchard in Southend and will be holding our next work party there on Monday 2 October, between 10 – 2. Open to all.
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Peer Support Activities for Unpaid Carers

Being a carer of a loved one who is unwell can be extremely rewarding, but also very demanding, and can have a significant impact on your life. As part of the Southend Carers Hub, we offer counselling and listening support to carers. We also run a range of peer support activities for unpaid carers across Southend Borough.
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Relaxation Course

We have a relaxation group running every Tuesday between 11 – 12 in our beautiful green community flag winning Growing Together Shoeburyness garden. The class combines relaxation and mindfulness techniques with yoga. Get in touch if you’d like to attend.

Community Gardening Project – Great Wakering

We are running an 8 week community garden project with Sanctuary Housing at Glebe Close in Great Wakering to revitalise some raised planters. Please let us know if you would like to join in.

Southend Apple Day – 7 October

Come celebrate the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness at our annual Apple Day at the historic St Laurence Orchard. Our much beloved Apple Day will be back this year on Saturday 7 October at St Laurence Orchard between 11 – 2.
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Community Fundraising

A huge thanks to Westcliff High School for Boys for selecting us as your local charity and raising a fantastic £8000 during your annual fundraising week. This money allows us to buy new tools, equipment and plants at our 4 ‘Growing Together’ sites so that we can continue to offer therapeutic gardening and other wellbeing activities to local people with mental health problems.

Volunteer Days

Thank you to DWP & The Lockwood Group for recently spending a day volunteering with us in the garden, you both did a great job. We have a range of team building and corporate volunteer days on offer, get in touch to find out more.

Walking

Physical exercise has long been proven to be beneficial for mental health and walking is a great starter exercise to increasing your fitness. You don’t need to walk a huge distance, just being outdoors, getting some fresh air can help to make you feel better. You also don’t need a lot of equipment, just some comfortable flat shoes and a coat in case it gets cool or wet. Looking around and taking in your environment whilst having a stroll can be a real eye opener to your local community, even in more urban areas there are beautiful eco systems to be seen.