MARCH 2008 NEWS

March, apart from Easter, has been an action-packed month of Public Relations in the big wide world, and progress of a more gentle kind in the garden.  We have welcomed some new Veterans and it has been wonderful to greet some more familiar faces who have returned to Gardening Leave – is it the tea, the sound of the river Ayr at the bottom of the garden or just the ‘being outside’?!

My itinerary in March included the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association’s annual respite break and AGM in Blackpool and two speaking engagements, one to fellow horticultural therapists at the Trellis annual conference and one at Stirling University to their final-year Psychology students – all fascinating and I have learned a lot and hopefully been able to spread the word about Gardening Leave and horticultural therapy and where they fit into the lives of Veterans with mental health troubles.

In the greenhouse, our seeds are germinating busily; 6 different varieties of tomato, lettuce, cucumber and chilli peppers are all being pricked out and potted up, as are lots of herbs, in readiness for planting up our herb boxes.

We had a very welcome donation of 30 unusual and mostly commercially unavailable poppy plants last week which has meant that the post-WWII section of the Collection now has its first poppies in situ – great progress!

We have welcomed more Volunteers to Gardening Leave this month; Pamela is studying Horticulture on the campus at Auchincruive and Moira is  accompanied by Muffy her faithful terrier.  Volunteers are our future and it’s great they are getting involved.

Thanks to a very generous grant form the Scottish National Institute for the War Blinded we have been able to accept the quote for the scaffolding which will be put up around the outside of the Stovehouse to hold the cover on so we can start the drying-out process – another milestone!

After a  tip off from Kate Adie, we had a visit from the One Show on a gloriously sunny day at the beginning of the month.  The result was screened on the 19th, the eve of the 5th anniversary of the American-led invasion of Iraq.  I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who saw it – a Big thank you to Les, Rob and Clive and all the people who made it possible.

We will be a year old next month and plans are under way for our Birthday Party – the best excuse for another party I can think of!

February 2008 News

Now 2008 is really getting into gear!

February was dry, cold and sunny (mostly) which meant we could get on with seed sowing, digging in the manure we spread in the autumn and preparing the ‘new’ potting shed for the busy months ahead.

The first tomatoes have germinated, as have the sweet peas and the first sowing of Victoria Cross poppies; lots of the tulip bulbs we planted in the autumn are now coming up and the ‘1st early’ potatoes (Arran Pilot of course!) are chitting merrily and ready to be planted very soon.

The last of the metal staging has been removed from the Stovehouse and we are now waiting for the scaffolding to be put up so that the tarpaulin cover can go over the building and the drying out process can begin – not a moment too soon!

It has been great to welcome Veterans back to the garden and we have had our share of new Gardening Leave Veterans too, plus new Volunteers and their dogs. 



As the days get longer and everything  including the weeds starts to grow, we will need all the help we can muster to make this a bumper year for the kitchen garden and to get the Stovehouse watertight a.s.a.p.

January 2008 News

2008 has well and truly begun!

As I write this, I am watching the trees in the garden here at Auchincruive being bashed and buffeted by very strong winds – we have had every sort of weather this month from freezing temperatures which meant our robin was a constant visitor to the messroom, to cloudless blue skies when we planted bulbs on the terrace in our shirt sleeves.

We started 2008 with the Great Onion Challenge; Paul, who works in the Ornamental Gardens and keeps an eye on us all, challenged us to grow a heavier ‘Kelsae’ show onion than him, the result to be judged on 11th August.  We sowed our seeds in identical trays on 3rd January and they are being closely monitored in the ‘Prop House’ behind our bothy – it’s a long way to August..!

The tulips we planted before Christmas are now flowering and adding welcome colour to our messroom, while the hyacinths we took to Hollybush in time for Christmas are now finished.  We have put them in the unheated greenhouse,  and will plant them in the grounds at Hollybush when the foliage has died back.

Our sweet peas, sown in the heated greenhouse (ingeniously lined with bubblewrap by a ‘combined team’ before Xmas) have begun to germinate and the Arran Pilot ‘1st early’ potatoes which the mouse has kindly left, are chitting happily so our Spring is well under way.

Thanks to the Wonderful Dave we will now have a coldframe where we can ‘harden off’ the seedlings which we are going to plant out in the garden – this means that (with luck) we can increase our veg production by sowing things like lettuces, peas and beans at intervals instead of all together – thus avoiding gluts which don’t make us popular with John the chef…  Many thanks Dave – it’s a work of art!

After what seems like months of waiting, we finally got permission to occupy the Stovehouse and work to repair it so we can start growing fruit and early veg has finally begun.  It’s quite a challenge but we’re up for it as you can see from the photographs.

Thanks to the generosity of Poppyscotland and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, we are now the proud owners of a Land Rover Discovery, bought via Arnold Clark in Ayr.  This marks an exciting new chapter in Gardening Leave’s short and eventful life as it means that our Volunteers can now transport Veterans to and from Hollybush in our own vehicle which can also tow a trailer with timber and other supplies for the Stovehouse and garden – a real bonus and a very positive message for all concerned.

The seed orders have started to arrive and we are busy sorting them into the months in which they should be sown.  My New Year’s Resolution is to grow more food for John, the chef at Hollybush so the challenge begins right here!

December 2007 News

December’s offering must start with an apology.  Our Gardening Leave 2008 calendar which was intended as a gesture of thanks and goodwill to all our veterans and supporters, turned out for some to be an expensive Christmas delivery thanks to the Post Office giving the first 100 I posted an underweight valuation.  For all of you who had to pay to receive your calendar, I offer you my heartfelt apologies – what a shambles!

On a happier note, December saw the return of more veterans to Gardening Leave for their ‘second tour’ – it was great to catch up and compare notes on how their lives and Gardening Leave’s life have been progressing.

Clive Fairweather, one of our Trustees, brought Margaret Mitchell MSP to visit the garden and Dave Smith QVRM also called in to finalise the details of his volunteering plans at Gardening Leave in the New Year – a very exciting development in our journey which I’m looking forward to very much.

The Stovehouse Conservation Project (SCP) is gathering steam; we had a quote from a firm of scaffolders to put up a frame over the building which we could attach the cover to, in order to dry the timbers out before we de-glaze and start re-painting.  It was so frightening that I think Plan B, to buy our own scaffolding is a much more appealing idea – watch this space….

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo have very generously given us £5,000 which will pay for the running costs of the 4 X 4 vehicle which I hope will be making its first appearance in the January Newsletter.  Poppyscotland have generously agreed to fund the purchase and the Trustees are extremely grateful to both charities for their generosity.

We had a fortnight of very frosty weather and at least two different robins made use of our hospitality by visiting the windowsill in our messroom – they eschewed the birdseed in favour of Viennese whirls and shortbread – very festive!

The frost also meant we had to harvest the Brussels sprouts we had grown for Christmas Lunch at Hollybush with a handsaw – I’m not sure what Gardeners World would say but it did the trick!

Goodbye to a frosty garden - the last look of 2007!

I hope everyone has had a good holiday – what an exciting year we have ahead of us – I can hardly wait!

In anticipation,

 

November 2007 News

Here we go again, another month of Visitors, Volunteers, and of course Remembrance.

I was delighted to welcome Cathy Jamieson MSP to the garden this month – Auchincruive is in her constituency and now that our plans for occupying and repairing the Stovehouse are progressing, it was great to be able to tell her about the project and to let her see the building in its raw state, before we begin our Schedule of Works – bring it on!

Our other parliamentary visitor last month was Brian Donohoe MP in whose Central Ayrshire constituency was are; he got the ‘Stovehouse Tour’ too and was very supportive and encouraging.

The Hand of Fate which has played such a defining role in the life of Gardening Leave, led me to the Walled Kitchen Garden Network (WKGN)  in October where at the end of my presentation, David Hargreaves introduced himself.  He is a structural engineer with a passion for walled gardens, who specialises in the restoration of old glasshouses, how lucky is that?!

He subsequently spent two days at Auchincruive, prodding and poking the timbers in the Stovehouse; measuring, assessing, and taking lots of photographs.  Last week, his report, Condition of the Stovehouse at Auchincruive landed on my desk – a great thrill and an invaluable working document worth literally thousands of pounds – he is a true Friend of Gardening Leave.

Chris, one of Gardening Leave’s veterans delivered the 16ft trailer which he and his son have lovingly restored, to Auchincruive.  This coincided with the happy news that Poppyscotland have agreed to fund the purchase of a vehicle for Gardening Leave – very good timing and a Big thank you to everyone involved.

General Currie, the Lieutenant Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the Chelsea Pensioners gave me a fascinating tour of Royal Hospital when we met to discuss possible involvement there by Gardening Leave.  Royal Hospital are currently building a new Infirmary and will be offering respite care to veterans from the RAF and the Royal Navy in addition to the present full-time residential accommodation it provides for Army veterans.  General Currie told me that Royal Hospital wishes to expand its role in assisting the ex-Service community in this country, especially in London, and a Gardening Leave project in its magnificent grounds, already home to the world famous Chelsea Flower Show, would be very appropriate.

You can follow the progress of the Infirmary at www.chelseapensionersappeal.org

Sky News also visited the garden in November, you can see their DVD in the News section.

Please click on the movie to play.

One of our Gardening Veterans, Steven Gibb, is a member of the Army Arts Society.  He exhibited at their annual exhibition in Salisbury this month and won the coveted Linda Kitson prize.  Very many Congratulations.  I hope Steven’s achievement will inspire other PTSD sufferers to use art as a form of expression – it is such a powerful medium.

Our gardening activities this month have been limited to planting bulbs; digging muck into the vegetable beds; taking cuttings and keeping the poppy collection tidy.  We are fortunate that most of our soil is pretty free-draining but one of December’s jobs will be to add well-rotted leafmould to the areas where more drainage is needed – never a dull moment!

The Disclosure Scotland paperwork required before we can welcome our first volunteers is nearly complete.  I am hoping that 2008 will see Gardening Leave expanding to include volunteers whose role in assisting the veterans in the garden and the Stovehouse will be crucial to the long-term success of the project.  The main requirements for a volunteer are a sense of humour, a sympathetic ear and a liking for being outside – tea making talent is an optional extra!

There was a pilgrimage to the Falkland Islands in November to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands Conflict.  They took several Falklands Poppy plants with them and they have been planted

Although it’s nearly the end of the year, the first shoots of the snowdrops are already through and the hyacinth bulbs we are forcing for Christmas are now sprouting merrily, in this month of Remembrance, the joy of life must never be forgotten.

October 2007 News

Funny old month October, more visitors, more gardening; sunshine, rain and our first frost.

The salmon fishing season ended on 31st October without the first catch by a Gardening Leave veteran but we have learned a lot about the river and I will spend the close season putting together the right kit; rods, reels, lines and waders so that we start the new season on 11th February 2008 fully prepared – any contributions very welcome!

In the garden there was much to do – we have composted all the peas, beans and tomatoes in our new compost bin and a kind horsey lady who lives locally allowed us to fill up several trailer loads of delicious well-rotted manure which will improve our ground hugely.

We planted lots of hyacinth bulbs which I hope we can ‘force’ for Christmas, and once again thanks to the never-ending ingenuity of the veterans, ‘tent city’ was born! We made tunnels of fine-meshed plastic twine usually used on building sites, stretched over blue plastic water pipe to protect our brassicas from frost, pigeons and wind – much to the envy of our visitors….!

The Imperial War Museum have approved the list of campaigns where British Service personnel were killed in action after the end of WWII which we will use to form the new, second section of the Poppy Collection and we have started to collect seed from the Victoria Cross poppy, which I hope we will be able to propagate for next year’s plants.

The plans for the repair and occupation of the Stovehouse are progressing – David Hargreave, the greenhouse conservation expert I met at the Walled Kitchen Garden Forum last month spent 2 days prodding and poking the timbers and assessing the glazing for his Risk Assessment.  As with all building projects, everything is taking longer than I had hoped, but it is a very exciting challenge and I know that the end result will be a wonderful warm, light, facility where we can grow more fruit and veg earlier and better, having preserved a much-loved historic building in the truly magic setting that is Auchincruive.

I visited the Central Registered Body in Scotland in Stirling earlier in the month as part of the registration process which will enable us to welcome Volunteers to Gardening Leave.  Their involvement and input are crucial to our long-term success and I hope that very soon we will have our own vehicle, driven by our own Volunteers – watch this space…

Another stage in our growth was reached when the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland agreed to fund an Organisational Review of Gardening Leave.  A consultant spent 2 days at Auchincruive getting to know how the project works, and the document she produced is intended to help us to focus on how we can help to improve our service to the veterans and grow in a strategic and sensible way.

I had the opportunity to meet Derek Twigg MP, Minister for Veterans when he visited Hollybush House to announce the appointment of of Veterans Therapist who will be part of a pilot scheme to help veterans who rely on the NHS, to access more ‘veteran-friendly’ psychiatric care.  The minister told me how much he enjoys digging in his garden; yet another example of the common language of gardening.

So the garden is ‘sleeping’ and the seed catalogues and crop rotation plans are being consulted – another month of progress and plans and more reasons to look ahead with optimism and hope.

September 2007 News

Yet another action packed month!

We were blessed with fantastic weather for Monday 3rd September when Johnson Beharry VC came to Auchincruive to officially open the Gardening Leave pilot project.

It was a great thrill to meet him and I know that none of the 100+ people who were there will ever forget a star man and a wonderful evening.

Once we had cleared the champagne corks away, it was time for the Veterans Scotland AGM in Edinburgh.  I was delighted to be invited to represent Gardening Leave and to be included as one of the charities who serve the veterans community in Scotland.

The following week I went to London for the Combat Stress AGM.  It was good to catch up with people from the other two Combat Stress treatment centres at Audley Court and Tyrwhitt House and to get myself up to speed with what direction Combat Stress intends to follow in the future.

Colonel David Scott, the Chairman of Poppyscotland came to visit the garden and Ron Mann, who is joining Combat Stress as a Welfare Officer also  visited us – I was delighted to welcome both of them and to be able to show them what we are doing at Auchincruive.

At the end of the month I went to Helmsley Walled Garden in Yorkshire to give a presentation to the Walled Kitchen Garden Network called ‘Gardening Leave – the first 6 months.’  I have received a lot of advice and guidance from the WKGN and it was good to meet so many people who are putting walled gardens to so many different uses.  The presentation was well received and I am glad to have been able to spread some better understanding about what PTSD is and how horticultural therapy can help veterans whose lives are changed by having to live with it.

Poppyscotland have generously paid for the design and printing of our first leaflet which is intended to let people know what Gardening Leave is and what the pilot project is for.  It has been well received and I hope it will give clinicians, carers and anyone else who is interested, a better idea of what we’re about.

It has been a busy month in the garden too – the peas and beans have both cropped well.  We stripped the peas, left the roots in the ground and chucked the rest on our new compost heap which you can see in the Gallery (I’ve learned not to ask where materials come from…!!).  The inside tomatoes are still ripening in the afternoon sun and the outside ones will be great for Green Tomato Chutney which I hope we can make here during October.  We have planted lots of hyacinth bulbs which should be ready in time for Christmas if the mice don’t find them – they are very well protected, typical military ingenuity…

The layout for the second section of the poppy restoration project has finally been decided.  We are going to commemorate the campaigns fought by the British since the end of WWII by planning a poppy registered in the year the campaign ended in each bed; for example Aden ended in 1967 so the Aden bed will contain a poppy registered in 1967.

Many of the veterans who come to Gardening Leave fought in Aden, Malaya, Cyprus and other campaigns and feel there should be somewhere and some way they can be remembered.  This is our way of putting that right.  The first bed in this section has been planted with the new Falklands Poppy – a very poignant moment.

September saw the fishing permits kindly given to us by Annbank Angling Association being used for the first time.  The river has been up and down but Alan and Mick had two good days and although no salmon were caught, several were seen!

A very special Thank You must go to Alistair Christie of Poppyscotland who, on 16th September in pouring rain, completed the Pedal for Scotland from Edinburgh to Glasgow and raised more than £450 for Gardening Leave!  Now we are registered for Gift Aid, the addition of 28 pence for every £ raised will bring the final total to over £550 – Big, Big Thank You Alistair!!!

It has been an incredible first 6 months full of milestones and learning curves – if the next 6 months are anything like the first, we’re in for a busy time – keep logging on for the next chapter!!

Official Gardening Leave Opening

L/Cpl Johnson Beharry VC cuts the ribbon to officially open the Gardening Leave garden at the Scottish Agriculture College on Monday 3rd September 2007.

"It takes you back to a different place," said Beharry as he surveyed the impressive walled garden at Auchincruive.  "It's so calm and peaceful here with the river in the background.  Gardening Leave is doing a great job."  As a highly decorated hero, Beharry knows at first hand what it is like to suffer and experience the torment of psychological trauma.  "I have combat stress myself," he said candidly.  "So I know what people are going through.  I am dealing with it now.  This is what is needed."

August 2007 News