​Thrive is the UK’s leading social & therapeutic horticulture charity.

​Social and therapeutic horticulture is the process of using plants and gardens to improve physical and mental health, as well as communication and thinking skills. It also uses the garden as a safe and secure place to develop someone's ability to mix socially, make friends and learn practical skills that will help them to be more independent.

Using gardening tasks and the garden itself, Thrive horticultural therapists build a set of activities for each gardener to improve their particular health needs, and to work on certain goals they want to achieve.

​The benefits of a sustained and active interest in gardening include:
• Better physical health through exercise and learning how to use or strengthen muscles to improve mobility
• Improved mental health through a sense of purpose and achievement
• The opportunity to connect with others – reducing feelings of isolation or exclusion
• Acquiring new skills to improve the chances of finding employment
• Just feeling better for being outside, in touch with nature and in the 'great outdoors'
 
Our London base is in the beautiful Battersea Park in South London. We maintain four gardens in Battersea Park where we run our therapeutic gardening sessions. Our sessions run from Monday – Friday from 10am – 3pm, structured like a working day. If you or someone you know could benefit from one of our programmes or you would like to know more, please call Ellen Hill on: 0207 720 2212
https://www.thrive.org.uk/how-we-help/regional-centres-and-programmes/london​

The Community and Local Government Committee launched an inquiry into public parks last month. The purpose of the inquiry is to determine the best way to support parks, now and in the future. The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2016.
 
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-and-local-government-committee/news-parliament-2015/public-parks-launch-16-17/

​There are several ways to support the inquiry:

• Either send a written submission

 
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-and-local-government-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/public-parks-16-17/

• Or complete the online survey and let the Committee know why you value your local park

 
http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/HO3PU/
 
 
Research resources
 
In order to fully understand the importance of our public parks, links to the following websites may be helpful:
 
http://www.landscapeinstitute.org/PDFCreating...pdf
 
http://theparksalliance.org/research/
 
 
NHS Forest website has an excellent ‘Evidence’ page listing useful research.
 
http://nhsforest.org/evidence
 

​A 2004 report entitled The Value of Public Space produced by Cabe Space Design Council also includes a bibliography.
 
http://www.sustainabilitywestmidlands.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The_Value_of_Public_Space.pdf