News
Recent News
4th March 2024
A Year in the Community Garden
We started working on the Community garden on 12th November 2022 so as we reach our first anniversary it seems a good time to review progress and in particular to explore whether we are meeting Thrive Langton’s aims. This review will be structured on the 5 ways to well-being which underpin all of Thrive’s work. A 6th way to well-being, ‘care for the planet’ is finding increased currency amongst health and well-being providers so have also included that here.
Connect with other people. We initially recruited a group of five volunteers from those who had either signed up at our launch or at the recruitment evening. This ‘core group’ has now grown to a dozen people who regularly participate in gardening sessions. In addition to this group we have another twenty people, including several children, who have taken part more occasionally, or who have donated items to the garden. Our gardening sessions also become social gatherings, an opportunity to meet new people and spend relaxed time with old friends.
We have made helpful connections with the Langton Rainbow and Brownie Packs and their leaders and they have been involved in several sessions throughout the year. They are enthusiastic helpers and learners. The tulips they planted at the end of 2022 gave several weeks of colour and received many appreciative comments. We plan to involve them regularly in the future.
In the next phase of the garden we hope to develop more areas for planting and will then have scope to involve more Langton residents on a regular basis. We already have some new volunteers waiting in the wings for the 2024 season.
Be physically active. We’ve certainly met this objective, with 26 sessions of gardening this year – through clearing, digging, weeding, carrying, watering, planting, sawing, and renovating
furniture our activities have provided many opportunities for cardio, stretching, and strengthening work outs.
Take notice. Gardens provide many opportunities for mindful moments, a chance to pause and observe the surrounding environment, the changing seasons, new shoots. Our wildflower ‘meadow’ which we have just seeded will hopefully come fully into flower in spring and summer 2025. Already the first seeds are germinating encouraging watchful awareness of progress. Patience and hope are both embodied in this wildflower project. We have renovated the rather tired furniture in the garden and plan to provide additional seating as we go along. We hope to encourage people to pause awhile and savour the peaceful space.
Learn. The garden has been somewhere to share knowledge and skills. As well as developing our understanding of the site and its potential we’ve learned about building bug hotels, and making damsel fly lagoons, about how bulbs develop, about the lifecycles of the insects living in the garden.
One person, who has never been interested in gardening, has now donated and planted several containers ready for spring and said ‘ I think I’m turning into a gardener’. The Rainbows and Brownies have sown sunflower seeds, taken them home, tended them and brought them back to plant and watch grow. They’ve seen the full cycle and have learned how they can nurture and grow something 2 metres tall.
Give. The Community Garden is about local people working together to give something back to their village – providing opportunities for activity, a space for relaxation and peace, a place to nurture and tend. We have tried to enhance the space immediately around Grace Space with welcoming flowers to be enjoyed by visitors.
Individuals have donated, time, skills, plants, furniture, containers and enthusiasm. We have been able to share our first crops with older people at the Afternoon Tea, and next year hope to extend this sharing of produce.
We have made a link with a local charity ‘Brain Matters’ who work with people with acquired brain injury, including strokes. They have offered to sow vegetable and flower seeds for us in their horticultural therapy sessions, ready for us to plant out in 2024. These are seeds which we won in a competition and would like to share. In exchange for this we could offer hospitality to them in the garden. A Langton resident who grows and sells flowers in aid of Hospice in the Weald has also offered to take some of our seeds and grow plants to be shared between us and the hospice.
Care for the planet. The garden is being developed organically without use of pesticides. We use peat free compost and try to compost as many of our weeds as we can. We have a wild area with the bug and bee hotels and this year we have planted some 300 wild flower bulbs in this patch. We are developing an extensive area for native wildflowers which we hope will encourage bees and birds as well as looking attractive.
Our Aims for this year and beyond
- Involve more Langton residents, in regular gardening sessions.
- Involve villagers in developing an area with raised beds to grow more vegetables and herbs
- Encourage more people to use the garden space (eg for Thrive Art Events)
- To share any garden produce more widely
- To hold a community ‘celebration of the garden’ tea in June/July when it’s at its most productive
- To hold a harvest supper in the garden for regular volunteers as a thank you for their contribution.
- To continue our links with the Brownies and Rainbows and their leaders.
- To continue to maintain all the planted areas and containers.
16th January 2024
Exciting news about the Langton Pavilion Community Hub
Thrive Langton is delighted to be part of the new Langton Pavilion Community Hub, managed by Langton Green Village Society. One of our core beliefs is that ‘Communities can work together to support each other with emotional health and well-being’ and we believe the new Community Hub will do just that.
Thrive Langton’s purpose is to ‘nurture well-being together’ so that we all thrive emotionally. We do this through providing opportunities for creativity, movement, social interaction, engagement with nature and music, all underpinned by the ‘6 Ways to Well-being.’
Since our launch in July 2022, we have been looking for a permanent home. We have used lots of venues for our activities – Grace Space continues to be a welcoming centre, as does the Village Hall – but we are thrilled to now have a base we can truly call our own, particularly for larger evening events, like our Thrive Talks and other gatherings.
We have an exciting calendar of activities planned for the year ahead. Our mission is that everyone within our community actively nurtures their own well-being and emotional health and we would love you to join us on this journey, with the Langton Pavilion Community Hub, to ‘nurture well-being together’.
Please do follow us on Instagram and Facebook @thrivelangton where you will find out more about all our events and the work we do.
27TH OCT 2023
The Hare Picture Sale
14TH OCT 2023
Nature Weaving
8TH JULY 2023
Thrive at Langton Green Festival
We also had the fabulously inspirational local artist Louise Dean on hand to enthuse young and old and everyone in between to get creative within a 10 x 10 cm canvas square. People’s energy was so contagious and it was wonderful to see everyone share ideas for our nature inspired theme. The resulting community wall art project is now hanging in Grace Space for all to see.
Keep your eyes peeled on our website for future events which connect us and improve our daily lives.
MAY 2023
Wellbeing Walks
In May we provided a number of walking routes, these can be walked at anytime of the year, with the correct footwear!
We know that we need to spend less time on our phones and more time connecting with each other to reap the emotional, psychological and physical rewards!
ROUTE 1: BADGER 4km route 1 – 1.30 hours: easy, flat route but does have a section on roads. Walking shoes / wellington boots advised. Not advisable for pushchairs / wheelchairs. Care must be taken to be visible to traffic and avoid undue risks.
ROUTE 2: CORONATION 6.6km route 1.45 – 2.0 hours : medium, some gradients, follows footpaths and some less busy roads. Walking shoes / wellington boots advised. Not advisable for pushchairs/ wheelchairs.
Instructions for both routes can be downloaded here
1st February 2023
Thrive Talk: Menopause Awareness
• www.daisynetwork.org – Daisy Network – an international charity that provides medical guidance and peer group support.
• www.themenopausecharity.org – very comprehensive with sections on ‘how to talk to your ’ and ‘how to talk to your employer’ with good symptom help sheets.
• www.henpicked.net – under the menopause tab there is an excellent range of
videos/lunch and learn sessions/podcasts on a wide range of topics including sleep,
nutrition, HRT, anxiety and a symptom checker
• www.menopausematters.co.uk – award winning, independent website with a
comprehensive guide to all treatment options including unbiased guide to alternative
therapies
• www.menopausedoctor.co.uk – hosted by menopause specialist – Dr Louise Newson
(who also chairs the Menopause Charity). There are links to podcasts with easy-to- follow information. It also has links to comprehensive leaflets on menopause, HRT, lifestyle changes, menopause at work and many more.
• www.menopausenow.com – a useful guide to easy lifestyle changes
• www.associationfornutrition.org/register – Association for Nutrition
• Symptom checker – www.themenopausecharity.org/2021/10/21/menopause-symptoms-questionnaire/
January 2023
Thank You to The Langton Green Village Society
The Langton Green Village Society have generously donated part of their advertising space in Langton Life to promote Thrive Langton’s programme of activities for the community. We are immensely grateful for their support.
Save the Date for the Party on the Green on Saturday 2nd September 2023!
October 2022
Generous Donation from Local Business
Dhaval Ghandi, Manager of the Budgens Esso garage on Langton Road, presented Mark Gamble, a trustee of Thrive Langton, with an incredibly generous cheque of £600 this week.
“We couldn’t be more pleased that Thrive Langton, which serves the community of Langton Green, is receiving the support of this important local business” said Mark Gamble. “The money given by Dhaval means that we can develop opportunities for more people in the village to get involved in activities which raise their emotional & physical well-being.”
Dhaval went on to explain “Langton is a great village with a very strong community spirit and we are proud to reflect our commitment to it with this donation. The last few years have shown that we are stronger when we stick together, which is why we are so happy to support Thrive Langton’s efforts.”
September 2022
Thrive Langton Community Garden Approval
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has agreed that Thrive Langton can build a garden on some of the land to the rear of All Saints Church. We appreciate their support.
We hope to develop a garden that will enable people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to get together in a space which is welcoming, attractive, productive, and peaceful. It will become a place for growing and tending, for quiet reflection, or for sharing and companionship. A space for exploring and learning and an environment which encourages birds, bees and other wildlife.
This will obviously not happen overnight. At this stage we are looking for a small group of volunteers who would like to have regular involvement. This group will work together to plan and set the ball rolling. Over time, all Langton villagers will be welcome to join us in shaping the garden and turning our vision into a reality.
You do not need any particular skills or gardening knowledge – enthusiasm and the ability to commit to regular (but flexible) planning sessions is more important. But if you do have specific gardening, landscaping or design ‘know-how’ you would, of course, be particularly welcome. If you have a disability which makes gardening difficult or even impossible please don’t be put off. Your experience would be especially useful in helping us make sure our garden is as accessible as possible – we really do want this to be a space all can enjoy.
If you are interested in getting involved in the Thrive Langton Community Garden please contact hello@thrivelangton.org
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