RHS Community grants awarded to wellbeing projects

We are supporting groups and organisations working at the heart of communities with the RHS Community Wellbeing Grant to bring wellbeing projects to life through the power of growing and green spaces

Supporting groups and organisations

In February 2022, we launched the RHS Community Wellbeing Grant, supporting groups and organisations working hard in their communities to deliver gardening projects with the aim of improving the wellbeing of their participants.

We were thrilled to award 11 groups with, on average, £9,000 to support their existing gardening projects or create a new one.

See below for a list of the successful applicants

Improving access to gardening projects

We know that gardening has been proven to positively impact our mental and physical wellbeing, providing us with access to the outdoors, time away from our busy lives and the opportunity to connect with others.

Green community spaces are at the heart of this and the successful grant applicants will be using this funding to ensure their projects are accessible for those who wouldn’t typically engage in gardening, improve the confidence of their participants and reduce isolation through regular social connection.

Diverse approaches to support wellbeing

From delivering weekly therapeutic gardening sessions in women’s refuges across London, to improving the accessibility and inclusivity of allotment plots in Yorkshire, and building a new health and wellbeing garden in Birmingham for men with a history of trauma, the funded projects demonstrate the diverse approaches that can be taken to support wellbeing through gardening and growing.

This RHS grant fund has been match funded with generous support from The Newt in Somerset.

The successful applicants for the RHS Community Wellbeing Grant are:

Alridha Foundation, Brent
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation NHS Trust, Birmingham
Hackney City Farm, Hackney
Healthy Minds Calderale, Calderdale
Lewisham Sports Consortium (LsportsC), Lewisham
Manchester Urban Diggers CIC, Manchester

Season Well, Leeds
The Hunslet Club, Leeds
The Little Storytellers, Leicester
We Make Places CIC, Liverpool
Wen (Women’s Environmental Network), Tower Hamlets

Community group planting and watering containers

“Thanks to the funding, we will be able to provide weekly therapeutic gardening sessions with refuge residents at Saranaya in East London, co-developing a wellbeing garden and programme of activities, which will help residents connect, have fun, learn, build confidence and ultimately grow.”
Julia Minnear, Co-Director, Wen ‘Soil Sisters’ project

Additional funding opportunities from the RHS

If your group is looking for funding to help individuals enter a career within the professional horticulture industry, see how the RHS Flourish Fund can help.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.