TRANSCRIPT

My volunteering is for very selfish reasons. I would be sitting at home looking at four walls, the TV on, sitting lonely on my own. My volunteering brings me in to contact with lots of amazing people.  

Doesn’t matter if it’s raining, doesn’t matter if the sunshine is not out. It can be three feet of snow. We’re here. We brush the snow off the bushes, especially the tender plants so that they don’t die and we actually barbecue in the snow. We don’t stop. Every week. People think “barbecuing in the snow?” It’s so much fun, try it.  

The new project has started this year at the back of the offices. That is what we call A Green Foodbank. So, residents that maybe run out of money and have a lot of the fortnight left in their cheque, can go to the office and the office will pick and it’s only going to be salad. But it could be potatoes and lettuce and scallions and maybe radishes ya know. At least it gives them something that they can take home and feed themselves with. Payment going into their account. So that’s a wee project we started this year. 

Coming into the garden because of my own lived experience with mental health. I can see when someone is struggling, or someone has a problem. You can sit down when you’re working with the soil and you just have a simple conversation. It’s not about me trusting them, it’s more them trusting me. 

For me, looking after the gardens and knowing they’re there. Well, it just gives me a lot of pride, so it does. When you see a smile on people’s faces, that’s enough.