PEOPLE who have gone through cancer treatment are being invited to find their green fingers at a free programme of gardening therapy in a Dartmoor village this summer.

The Blooming Well, Supporting Your Recovery programme is taking place at Sheepstor village hall and in the garden surrounding it, which includes veg patches and soft fruit cages.

The course, run in two hour weekly sessions over six weeks, is both practical, with seed sowing, pricking out and planting, and also wth delving more into planting schemes.

It is being run by Annie Charles from The Mustard Tree, a charity based at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth which provides therapies and activities to help cancer patients recover physically and emotionally from treatment.

Annie has a background as a nurse and is also a passionate gardener. Knowing the release that gardening has provided for her from the stresses of her working life, Annie wanted to share this with cancer patients to help them bloom again as much as the plants.

She said: ‘I have worked at The Mustard Tree for a number of years and I am a nurse by background and I was very interested in horticulture and studying it on a personal level.

‘I did an RHS diploma at Bicton College and a garden design course and the more I was thinking about it, I thought that there must be a way of getting people involved in this.’

She said the gardening courses were particularly important as The Mustard Tree had had to temporarily close its drop in centre.’With covid, the centre is closed and essentially it is still not open for drop in because of the thing of keeping covid under control, so people aren’t getting the opportunity to meet so they are feeling a bit isolated.’ she said. After Annie got support from her idea from her managers, she started the first series of six sessions in the village hall and garden in Sheepstor in May. All the sessions take place on Wednesdays for two hours and are open to anyone who has had cancer treatment at Derriford Hospital or is receiving it at the moment.

Refreshments are provided and the course starts off with an introductory session where people can share what they would like from the course. Researchers from Plymouth University are following this summer’s programme to assess how much it helps people, after Annie successfully applied for a Get Involved Community Award from the university.

‘Hopefully it will be ongoing. We hope it will take off,’ said Annie. ‘It has many benefits. Some of the people who have already taken part are thinking about growing their own veg and saying they have bought raspberry canes and getting back into their own gardens after treatment, having been low in energy before.’

To find out more about joining the next course starting at the end of July, call The Mustard Tree on 01752 430060.