The Lambeth GP Food Co-operative has launched a video (part funded by NHS England) featuring its work and describing its vision.
 
As Dr Vikesh Sharma, a GP at the Grantham Practice in Stockwell, points out in the co-operative's latest newsletter, despite the project's success, prescribing gardening is still a novel idea to many patients. The challenge for a GP practice is 'to normalise the concept'.  'People come to GP surgeries and expect to be referred down certain pathways and it requires a change of mindset to consider the gardening club a viable option.' As the video demonstrates, this change is already beginning to take place.

How can a community that’s often on the move enjoy the many benefits of gardening together?  It’s a question the Royal Horticultural Society community outreach team in Yorkshire is working on with the 6 Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps.
 
They’re trying to find a way to create portable community gardens.  If successful, it could provide a model to be used elsewhere. It could give our armed forces and their families the same opportunity as other communities to garden together – to learn new skills while tackling issues such as stress, loneliness and isolation.

The Sensing Nature website has been launched. It will keep us up to date with the two-year ESRC funded project started in November 2016 by Dr Sarah Bell. Focussing on individuals living with visual impairment, the project will explore the sensory and emotional experiences we have in nature.
 
https://sensing-nature.com/

​In a recent blog, Dr Bell draws attention to the work of Karis Petty, an anthropologist at the University of Sussex who was taught to 'echolate' by a participant in a research project she was running. Dr Bell suggests that 'echolocation' is an activity we could all try whenever we are quiet in nature. Rather than listening with our ears we can begin to 'listen' with our whole being. 
 
https://sensing-nature.com/news/silent-spaces

Landscape, Gardens and Health Network conference 2017
 
The therapeutic value of landscapes and gardens: evidence-based design and beyond
Penny Brohn Cancer Care Centre, Bristol, UK
Friday 22 September 2017
 
The conference will provide a forum for those wishing to discuss and debate the role of therapeutic landscapes and gardens today. It will introduce current research and innovative approaches to nature, everyday landscapes and wellbeing.
 
There will be four key themes:

• The role of volunteers
• The value of collaborative/holistic design processes
• Therapeutic opportunities in the everyday landscape
• The idea of healing spaces and settings.

​A research project that aims to find out more about how Sheffield’s natural environment can improve the health and wellbeing of city residents has launched a new website. http://iwun.uk

​Royal Horticultural Society reports on the John MacLeod Lecture 2016.
 
A leading academic has argued that gardening is uniquely placed to help bridge the widening gap between modern, urban lives and the natural world, during the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) annual John MacLeod Lecture on 10 November.

​Dr Ross Cameron, a Senior Lecturer in Landscape Management, Ecology & Design at the Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, believes that as urban populations increase, city dwellers are missing out on the emotional, physiological, and psychological benefits of engaging with the natural world, benefits that humans are hard-wired to respond to. He argued that this lack of connection contributes to a condition he calls Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD).

​The charity Greenfingers, that creates inspiring gardens for children's hospices, recently began the second year of its A Million Moments Appeal. It aims to raise £1 million to enable another 5,000 children involved in hospice system to benefit from the outdoor spaces the charity creates.

​Lambeth GP Food Co-operative celebrated its 3rd anniversary this year. A party at Lambeth Walk Surgery, together with a brain-scrambling quiz and a magnificent birthday cake, marked the event in style.

According to Project Director, Ed Rosen, the idea behind the project is really simple: ‘ to build life affirming gardens in every one of Lambeth’s GP surgeries.’

Retired nurse and Group Leader, Hilda Castillo-Binger, took ten minutes from hosting the party to show a LGHN representative around the Lambeth site.  The paved area that runs alongside the surgery is filled with an impressive array of fruit, vegetables and herbs.  They’re grown in raised beds and every imaginable form of container.  Half empty compost bags seem to make particularly efficient, deep pots.

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

Few of us would disagree with Lord Crisp, the opening speaker at the Health and Horticulture Conference 2016 when he quoted the WHO: 'modern societies actively market unhealthy lifestyles.' The key role of horticulture and green infrastructure in reversing this situation was the subject of many of the presentations that followed.
 
The RHS has made pdfs of the presentations and podcasts of the conference available for circulation.
 
https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/Ornamental-Horticulture-Roundtable/Health-and-Horticulture-Conference-2016

​If you run, or are considering starting a 'green space' project that benefits the local community, you may be eligible for funding from a scheme managed by Groundwork, the community charity with the green heart.

​http://www.groundwork.org.uk/carriers-for-causes-guide-uk  

​Gardeners already know the answer to the question posed by BBC News, but it's heartening to see the link between horticulture and health being discussed so thoroughly in the media.

​​http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36675460

The Landscape, Gardens and Health Network was delighted to take part in the European Healthcare Design Congress and Exhibition this week. Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange, the event was held at the Royal College of Physicians – a prestigious venue with an expertly planted Medicinal Garden.

Colin Porter, a founder member of the network, chaired a well-attended afternoon of presentations on the theme ‘Landscape design: nature and the therapeutic environment.’ 

For brief summaries of presentations and points made during Q&A

David Buck, Senior Fellow at The King's Fund, discusses the 'Gardens and Health' report in his recent King's Fund blog.
​
​http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2016/05/bring-gardens-in-from-cold

​Hot on the heels of renewed publicity about levels of inactivity and the benefits of outdoor exercise, the first Wildfit course has been launched in Trowbridge Park, Wiltshire.

The course, which is open and free for the public to use, includes a trail to run or walk and exercise zones that target different aspects of fitness.  Each piece of equipment has clear user guidance and has been designed so to be used by anybody, regardless of their level of fitness or experience.
 
The activity trail was designed by Phil Walker at Wildfit, himself a stroke survivor.  Phil was already a qualified fitness trainer but his own experience and recovery has taught him the particular benefits of outdoor activity in the fresh air over indoor exercise:

​We are pleased to announce that the Landscape, Gardens and Health Network will be an endorsing partner for the prestigious European Healthcare Design 2016 Congress. Providing an interdisciplinary forum for more than 300 senior level policy-makers, researchers and practitioners from around the globe, the European Healthcare Design 2016 Congress & Exhibition will be held on 27–28 June 2016 at the Royal College of Physicians in London, UK. Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange, registration is now open at http://www.europeanhealthcaredesign.eu. The preliminary programme for the conference is available and includes a session entitled ‘Landscape design: nature and the therapeutic environment’. See this link (pdf)

​​The little-known medical history of hospital gardens has been the topic for a unique installation at the Chelsea Fringe Festival, 18 May-5 June 2015. ‘Taking a Turn’ has been developed by gardening therapist and garden designer, Rebecca Smith, to explore the mental health history of hospital gardens over more than 200 years.

​At Holt Wood we are working towards sustainable cultivation and harvest of medicinal trees and shrubs. Our project is based on a two acre site in North Devon, UK which was previously a conifer plantation.

A stroll in the park could be the best way for urban dwellers to banish negative thoughts.  A New York Times blog reports on research at Stanford University into the psychological effects of urban living.

​​http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/how-nature-changes-the-brain/

The Woodland Trust are calling for a Charter for Trees, Woods and People. Their campaign for 2016 will start with the value to nature (Spring), then to health, mental wellbeing and fitness (Summer) and then to the economy and livelihoods (Autumn). The trust’s campaign will be a series of incremental messages, backed up with studies, reports and expert articles, increasing people’s understanding that trees are hugely valuable.
​
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/publications/2014/05/lifes-better-with-trees/

​Michael Connors, Director of Services at Penny Brohn and member of the LGHN management board shares the  presentation he gave at the LGHN seminar in 2015. Michael discussed the role of the garden within the therapeutic program at Penny Brohn. He emphasized how an understanding of Ecopsychology (including mindfulness, eco-therapy and nature and soul) is integrated within the service provision at Penny Brohn. The garden, which is sustained by a strong volunteer team, provides a symbolic meta model for a ‘journey of transformation’ (the Hero’s Journey).

Conversations about healing trees by Colin Porter

Having been trained at Kew in the 1980’s form of scientific rationality, the more left-field ideas of natural harmony or sustainability found at places like Findhorn or the Centre for Alernative Technology in North Wales should have passed me by. The majority of people I worked with seemed to be reassured by reasoned argument and, as far as I was concerned, scientific rationality provided a reliable platform for the day job. But our day jobs were only part of the story.