\n Plants and Minds, based in Dorset, was celebrated during a recent event on July 6 at Cherry Tree Nursery in Bournemouth, with supporters and donors gathering to hear about the charity\u2019s 36 years of life-changing work through horticultural therapy.\n<\/p>\n
\n The nursery currently supports around 80 adults each week living with life-impacting mental health conditions, offering them meaningful work via horticultural therapy in a supportive and pressure-free environment.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norman Aish, patron of Plants and Minds, said: “My late father saw many of the same people being readmitted to hospital on a regular basis and thought there must be a better way forward.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norman Aish, patron of Plants and Minds (Image: Plants and Minds)\n<\/p>\n
\n “With a good friend Cyril Speller, they dreamed up an idea of a horticultural venue where people could come together in mutual support, to grow and sell plants under careful guidance.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Aish explained that his father, Reverend Canon Roslyn Aish, co-founded the charity in 1990 after witnessing repeated hospital admissions during his time as a pastor at St Ann\u2019s Hospital in Poole.\n<\/p>\n
\n The closure of large mental health hospitals in favour of community care in the 1980s had left many adults isolated and unsupported.\n<\/p>\n
\n That early vision led to the creation of Cherry Tree Nursery, transforming a derelict site into what Mr Aish describes as “one of the finest for many miles around.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “Plants and Minds has saved many lives and enriched the lives of team members.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It now costs \u00a3500 a day to keep a patient in St Ann\u2019s, so this organisation has saved millions of pounds for the hard-pressed NHS.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The event also marked the opening of a new polytunnel, dedicated to the late propagator Trevor Randall, who worked at the nursery from 1992 until his retirement in 2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cherry Tree Nursery in Bournemouth (Image: Plants and Minds)\n<\/p>\n
\n Maria Tidy, community liaison officer for Plants and Minds, said: “Last year, customers were asking us to grow more vegetable and herb plants, but we didn\u2019t have enough room in an existing polytunnel.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we now have a fantastic new polytunnel and we have dedicated it to Trevor, in honour of his work developing the propagation unit; to celebrate his life and to ensure that his legacy lives on.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The ribbon-cutting was carried out by Bournemouth Mayor Roberto Rocca, who praised the nursery\u2019s impact across the community.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Rocca said: “The charity is doing a great job, not just for its team members but for the whole community.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I\u2019m really impressed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plants and Minds, based in Dorset, was celebrated during a recent event on July 6 at Cherry Tree…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-685936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}