Healthy Minds were thrilled to have been invited to take part in Shibden Park’s 100th birthday celebration ‘Stage At The Lake’ festival which took place from Thursday 13th – Sunday 15th August. As part of the festival, we were tasked to create one of ten micro-gardens for ‘Seeds of Hope’ to celebrate Calderdale’s green spaces, community and wellbeing. Our volunteers, service users and staff dedicated a lot of time to plan, design and build the garden – we loved the fact it felt like a little oasis you could walk through with bursts of colour including a water feature, water butt, bench, papier mâché bees, inspirational signs and hope stones all created by our wonderful volunteers and service users at Healthy Minds. It really helped to represent what Healthy Minds is about perfectly! Our show garden celebrated the simple idea that gardens can help people flourish as well as nature. As part of the display, we showcased a garden water butt which took centre stage in the garden, generously donated by Slow the Flow. It was enjoyed by lots of children who delighted in filling watering cans and sprinkling their chosen flowers with a drink.
The visitors at Seeds of Hope all thought it was wonderful too! We couldn’t have been more pleased at how well it went. The garden was very popular, attracting a variety of visitors who admired the range of colourful flowers on display. The highlight of the day, was of course, the potato picking, the children thoroughly enjoyed digging in the soil and taking home their prize potatoes – lots of chips were on the menu that evening!
Background Info
Healthy Minds is Calderdale’s local mental health charity offering a range of free mental health support services, from Safespace (one to one support), social drop ins, school outreach and outdoor wellbeing to supporting people in crisis. We believe that good mental health grows through connection – with other people, with our communities and with nature. Our allotments in Sowerby Bridge offer free outdoor wellbeing sessions where people can slow down, grow food and flowers, support local wildlife and spend time alongside others. For many, it’s a place to feel calmer, more connected and more hopeful.
We offer free weekly wellbeing sessions at our allotments in Pye Nest, Sowerby Bridge. Everyone is welcome to come along. For more information contact LauraB@healthymindscalderdale.co.uk.
