5 days ago
Kent charity's ‘green therapy' wins the day
Tucked away in a rural village setting in Kent is a space which may reshape the way Britain deals with everything from social isolation to bereavement.
East Malling charity Communigrow is the winner of the Community category in the Adobe Express Your Innovation competition, in partnership with Telegraph Media Group, judged by award-winning social entrepreneur and broadcaster Natalie Campbell MBE. The competition offers mentoring and investment to three of Britain's most creative businesses in three categories: Community Project, Small Business and Rising Star.
Communigrow grows food in an eco-friendly way. Entirely powered by solar panels, the lush 2.4-acre green space has no electricity bills and produces food for the local community and food banks, but also offers hundreds of local people 'green therapy' to help improve their mental and physical health. The business was a clear standout in its category, Campbell says, and a deserving winner of the competition sponsored by Adobe Express, the free create-anything app. The app enables entrepreneurs to create eye-catching promotional videos, flyers and social media campaigns in seconds.
The most important impact of Communigrow is not the food it grows, but the way in which it helps local people boost their mental and physical health by getting in touch with nature, says Tamsin Gillard-Moss, community engagement manager for Communigrow.
Gillard-Moss says that the workers and volunteers at Communigrow, which was founded 14 years ago, did not expect the site to grow the way it has, having started as wasteland, with Gillard-Moss joining three years ago as it boomed in popularity. She says she has realised its main benefit is the boost it gives to the mental and physical wellbeing of Communigrow's beneficiaries.
'I was speaking to one of the people in a group for over-50s who has long-term health conditions,' explains Gillard-Moss. 'He said that prior to coming he had been living 'like a hermit'. He didn't go out, he didn't see anyone. It was really sad. It really struck home.'
The man has since come every Wednesday all through the winter, and Gillard-Moss says both his physical and mental health are clearly improving.
As well as working with local Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) school Five Acre Wood Sixth Form, the charity also offers free therapeutic gardening sessions for groups such as isolated older people and bereaved adults, and there are new groups for army veterans and emergency services workers. In 2024, the site ran 45 wellbeing sessions for older people, worked with 10 local schools, ran 116 sessions for children and young people with SEND and ran 30 family workshops.
'What we see is being outside, being active and taking part in community activities, and intergenerational working – we have everyone from tiny tots to over-80s here – means there's a real change in people's mental and physical health. That's what we do,' says Gillard-Moss.
Just 17 per cent of British adults engage with people from different generations in community spaces, according to YouGov research, with only 14 per cent of over-55s doing so, making this a valuable service.
According to Gillard-Moss, Communigrow applied to the competition thinking that they 'didn't have a hope' as a relatively small charity. East Malling is among the top 20 per cent most income-deprived areas in England, and the site has helped more than 1,000 adults and young people over the past year, with numbers having doubled since 2021. Gillard-Moss says that Communigrow hopes to use its mentorship from the Adobe Express Your Innovation competition to boost awareness locally.
'The big barrier for us is that we are on a gated site,' she says. 'Unless you're coming to visit us, we don't get people seeing what we do.'
The Community category judge, Natalie Campbell MBE, says she believes the charity's approach could be used in other communities across Britain.
'I picked Communigrow to win because they demonstrated the real sense of being rooted in the East Malling community, and what they're doing can be replicated across the UK,' she says.
Campbell looks around the sun-splashed site where volunteers are working with students from Five Acre Wood Sixth Form.
'There is so much about this space that fills my heart with joy,' says Campbell who believes that her expertise in brand communications, gained as co-chief executive of social enterprise Belu since 2020, and co-founder of social innovation agency A Very Good Company, will enable her to offer advice on how to spread the word about Communigrow.
'This is a beautiful space, and when I look at the organisation's various social channels, that is not coming through,' says Campbell. 'With the Adobe package, you've got tools to communicate, so if you figure out the right story, then you'll start to see more people coming down to the space.'
Adobe Express makes it easy to produce eye-catching social media posts, videos and flyers that can help gain much-needed exposure for businesses, and Campbell says that she will mentor Communigrow towards 'quick brand and marketing wins', and believes that Communigrow's approach could be commercialised with corporates for team-building days, raising more money for the charity. She hopes to use her own contacts to connect Communigrow to other funders.
'It aligns to the things that I think are important,' says Campbell. It's about togetherness and making people healthier in a post-pandemic world where people spend so much time alone. Being here immediately changes your mood. If I was running the government, this would be socially prescribed to operate all across the UK.'
