Our Hope Project
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council commissioned us to run a series of events and workshops based on the theme of Hope. Our sister service, Art Matters [our community arts studio and centre of wellbeing and mindfulness, here in Redhill] which is also part of Community Connections, ran a creative writing workshop called “Finding Hope Through Writing”, facilitated by Jacky Power, Poet and Psychotherapist.
At Community Connections, we also designed a bespoke wellness journal and ran a series of workshops to guide people we support on the best way of using the journals by explaining the benefits of gratitude, affirmations, journalling and structure to assist their individual recovery journeys.
As part of our Hope Project, people we support at East Surrey Community Connections suggested we also planted a tree to represent Hope for the future.
Choosing which tree
There are so many wonderful trees to choose from that represent hope, that this was a quite a task to narrow the choice down taking into account the quirky nature of the spoil in this part of the south east: sometimes sandy but often wet and ‘claggy’ with the clay here that makes the ground less hospitable through the increasingly long, wet winters.
The wonderful people at the Gateway Community Allotment Project* supported by Surrey Care Trust at Earlswood (close to the Earlswood Lakes) offered to give our tree a happy home with the proviso it needed to be a fruit tree and not too tall [to fulfil their terms and conditions for the allotment] so that they could incorporate it into a new orchard that they are currently planting up.
So that helped narrow our choice a little more and the final choice (with a little help from our Gateway Allotment experts) was a Malus John Downie – a popular crab apple tree.
Sourcing our Tree of Hope – from The Old Moat
This step was a lot easier, as our sister social enterprise, The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café in Epsom, helped us out with a lovely healthy crab apple tree from Frank P Matthews.
The Old Moat, currently supports over 50 people on their recovery journeys. Every purchase made directly supports their wellbeing services. The garden centre and café are dedicated to providing essential funding for these programs: Find all your gardening needs, including a diverse selection of plants, many of which are grown on site and good quality gardening tools. Explore their range of unique gifts and local products, from greetings cards and books to puzzles and toys. They also stock a fantastic range of soaps, candles, and toiletries from bonafide companies such as Gisela Graham and award-winning room fragrances such as the sea-inspired Inis. Don’t forget to enjoy the fabulous café when you visit. Knowing that your purchases contribute to a meaningful cause will make your experience even more rewarding!
Planting Our Tree of Hope
The day came when the tree had been collected from The Old Moat Garden Centre and arrived at The Gateway Allotments ready to be planted, by some of our Community Connections team.
After having a tour of all the fantastic work and new projects that Milly, Nicola and Charlotte (and not forgetting Rusty the Retriever) are overseeing, (including a new outdoor cooking area; a smoker to smoke home-grown peppers and sweetcorn, a new outdoor arts area and a fabulous sturdy new ‘snug’ donated by a celebrity chef) we got to work to plant our crab apple tree:
Luckily, the team at Gateway Allotments had already done a lot of the hard graft preparing a hole for planting!
With the help of the Gateway team, we positioned the tree at the correct height, level with the ground then all the Community Connections helped add some lovely rich compost around it.
After firming it it with our boots, a voluminous bag of sheep’s fleece was produced (from another part of the Surrey County Council projects) to use as a wool mat/mulch to lay over the newly composted area: Sheep’s wool provides a porous shield that helps to reduce weed growth whilst regulating soil temperatures – keeping soil cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
After the fleece mulch we all helped cover the wool layer with a more traditional bark mulch to contain the fleece whilst adding another layer of protection to keep in the moisture over the drier summer months.
Following a good watering, we were all able to get hands on, tying on our Messages of Hope which were written by the people we support on compostable paper and seeded with wild flowers.
We added an engraved plaque with words that we felt truly befit our Tree of Hope:
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
~ Nelson Henderson.
Our job was done… except for enjoying a cuppa with some delicious carrot cake and lemon drizzle cake at the outdoor dining table before reluctantly heading back to the office with smiles on our faces and a feeling of a job well done!
Words by Chon Donnelly
Artwork by Chon Donnelly
Photos by Lucy Rowley and Chon Donnelly
*The Gateway Allotment Project is a community garden initiative based on four allotment plots in Earlswood, Reigate, Surrey. Its aim is to offer new opportunities to people who may be isolated from their local community. The project provides mental health support for people aged 16-30 and is currently working on creating a communal area, outdoor kitchen, and orchard and a composting site. Find them on Facebook
