Service Providers
Diggin’ It is able to provide a wonderful, welcoming setting for a wide range of beneficiaries. These currently include people from a variety of backgrounds, including refugees, people with mental health issues, learning disabilities, a history of drug or drink problems, young offenders, and long-term unemployed. Work placements for young people in training and for those excluded from school provide an opportunity to learn commitment, respect for self and others and social interaction, whilst at the same time as allowing them to express themselves out of the classroom environment.
The project provides an excellent learning opportunity for beneficiaries in terms of gardening and the benefits of eating healthy food, but it also gives them the opportunity to meet new people and undertake some physical exercise outside, improving both their physical and mental health.
Scientists at Bristol University and University College London discovered that Mycobacterium vaccae, a friendly bacteria found in soil, has the same uplifting effects as anti-depressants, stimulating the immune-system and producing the mood-enhancing chemical seratonin.
Artists/Performers
We would very much like to hear from you if you are able to provide workshops, theatrical productions, art, craft or sculpture demonstrations, music etc. Please contact Dave Sharp to discuss further, as we are aiming to provide a wide range of events that are inspired by the garden or that have an environmental theme.
How can your agency get involved, or how do you refer someone to Diggin’ It?
If you feel that a client may be able to benefit from attending the project, contact Dave Sharp, Head Gardener in the first instance. A mutually convenient date will be arranged so that you and your client can visit the garden and determine whether it would be a suitable place for them to come.
If appropriate, after completing a short initial registration process, health and safety/medical consents form, and agreement form, a day or days of attendance will be agreed upon that would most suit the client and the project.
Regular monitoring and time sheets are completed, thus enabling us to evaluate and evidence any improvements in the health, behaviour, and/or emotional well-being of the beneficiary.
Tasks are allocated to the beneficiary that they are able to carry out and that will provide them with a sense of achievement and pleasure. Staff and volunteers work closely with our beneficiaries, so that they are working in a small team and feeling part of a community.
Quotes from beneficiaries that have been attending Diggin’ It have reported their feelings in different ways:
“It gives me something to do and fills up my day, I don’t know what I’d do otherwise” – MC
“It’s well cool at Diggin’ It, I want to be a gardener when I leave school” – SL
“I like getting outside a lot” – GD
“I like clearing overgrown land” – AP
Quotes from some of the agencies that have referred their clients to Diggin It have reported the following:
“We can really see a massive difference in A. Just being part of a team, getting out there and being active with other people has been fantastic for him, not only the physical exercise but the social interaction he’s getting”. – MBF
”He’s really enjoyed himself, coming back and saying what he’s achieved that day – it’s giving him a real buzz, a real sense of achievement and satisfaction” – SA
“At the beginning they started off really cocky, saying things like, "why should we do this for nothing?” – but then a bit later, after they’ve had a look round and seen what it’s like, they’ve thought, “oh, actually, I wouldn’t mind coming here after all”. Then they come back, feeling great because they’ve done a real hard day’s graft and they’re full of it!” - JC
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