Thrive is a national charity, founded in 1978, that uses gardening to change lives. We believe passionately in the power of gardening to help, and see first-hand how gardening can help everyone regardless of age, disability or health condition.
Some of the changes we see in people through gardening are astonishing. Disabled people want the same opportunities, freedoms and choices as the rest of us; gardening can help achieve this.
Our activities are varied but focus on championing the benefits of
gardening to individuals and organisations, as well as teaching techniques and practical applications so that anyone with a disability or ill health can take part and enjoy gardening.
We run two garden projects where disabled people living locally work with therapists trained in social and therapeutic horticulture and learn how to use gardening to meet their own needs. The Thrive Trunkwell Garden Project is in Beech Hill near Reading and the Thrive Battersea Garden Project is in Battersea Park, London. We also maintain a contact list for garden projects in the UK, so we can help find a project locally to your home as well.
A research programme underpins Thrive’s work to provide evidence and improve understanding.
Gardening can help individuals accomplish many things. It can help rebuild a person’s strength after an accident or illness, and can provide a purposeful activity for someone coping with a difficult period in their life.
Our Vision
To enable those touched by a disability to transform their lives using gardening.
Our Mission
Using our passion for the power of gardening to change the lives of people touched by a disability, Thrive will:
- teach practical and creative ways to use gardening
- learn more about how gardening helps people
- talk about what we do and how we help using gardening
- work with individuals and organisations.
As a small national charity, the help and generosity of Thrive’s supporters is crucial to ensure we can continue using gardening to change lives.
Get involved
If you would like to help Thrive, why not make a donation, help with our fundraising, or work as a volunteer at one of our garden projects? Perhaps you could involve your employer and work colleagues by volunteering as a group, or by hiring our meeting room for a business or social event?
To find out more about Thrive, download a pdf of our comprehensive leaflet:
Using gardening to change lives: a guide to who we are, what we do, how we do it
Alternatively, call us on 0118 988 5688, send us an email or visit the Thrive website