Celia Carter had started feeling lonely and isolated during the start of the year. The snow kept her inside her warm home and visitors were few and far between. She’d lost her husband eight years ago, her beloved dog died a year later, and her only son lives away. Then she found Thrive.
What is loneliness? It is an unpleasant feeling in which a person experiences a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience. Loneliness has also been described as social pain - a psychological mechanism meant to alert an individual of isolation and motivate her/him to seek social connections.
Seventy-six-year-old Celia heard about Thrive’s community gardening course – Sow and Grow - which was taking place in her local village hall from a local volunteer linkworker.
Reluctant at first, Celia, a former nurse, did not have much interest in gardening and was apprehensive about coming along.
"I wondered what on earth you could do with gardening in a village hall and I thought it might be full of people who knew lots about gardening," she said.
"But the way I was feeling….I do believe I was on a downward spiral….I thought I’d better give it a go, and I am so glad I did because it has been just lovely."
Meeting new people has given back her confidence and she has made new firm friends.
"Because the people who came along were all local it means we still do things together, I see one lady twice a month for coffee."
Celia also says her contact with Thrive has re-ignited an interest in gardening.
"When we made up the hanging baskets I decided to make more myself at home," said Celia. "And when Paul showed us how to make Origami pots out of newspaper for seedlings, well I had such fun that day!
"Thrive definitely helped me and came at the right time. It has made me more determined to do things and keep me mobile.
"I loved every bit about the course. Gardening is my new hobby!"
Gardening is now so important to Celia than she felt confident enough to enter her hanging baskets into the local flower show – where she won a certificate for the best blooms!
Celia is hoping to start volunteer work at a local residential home helping out at tea and coffee mornings and she goes along to the Baptist Church every week as a result of hearing about it on the course.
Thrive has delivered eight Sow and Grow Courses (a project funded by the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund) which have directly touched the lives of 57 people.
As a result, the increased level of gardening activity amongst the people who attended is top notch 100 per cent!
Seventy-five per cent of attendees reported becoming less isolated and socialised more, and 92 per cent developed a shared interest in the wider community.
Feeling happier and healthier as a result of gardening was reported by 71 per cent of people and 60 per cent said they gained skills/knowledge that would enable then to garden at home with, taking into account their disability.