Green fingered Hackney residents

Having access to a garden can sometimes be taken for granted. But children in one London borough discovered that their local park can give them greenery, veg and a whole lot of fun.

When SONshine club came to us with an idea for a project to get both young people and over 60s involved in physical activity and healthy eating outdoors, we wanted to know more.

The project called, Grow to eat - Eat to grow Healthy focused on teaching children about the importance of healthy eating through gardening. The older people volunteered to run the project, and the kids got their hands dirty by growing their own veg.

With the funding SONshine club bought plants, seeds, compost, spades and forks and used the rest of the money on some staff costs and to promote the project with colourful marketing materials.

Each week the gardening and healthy eating tutor, Ruth Lewis, introduced the children to a new vegetable. Ruth talked to the children about the vegetables and how they can contribute to a healthy diet and how to cook with them. Their favourites were tomatoes (the children loved the bright red colour), potatoes and even rhubarb. Ruth said the best part for her was seeing the enthusiasm and excitement that the children brought to the sessions and "an enhanced knowledge and understanding of where our food comes from and the connection between a good diet and good health".

It encouraged me to take fruits and vegetables as a snack to school – something my mother couldn't persuade me to do before!

After a short lesson, children then got the chance to begin growing their own veg and over the weeks children from the SONshine club cultivated, tendered and admired their seedlings as they grew. When the time came to harvest the veg, the children created a fabulous feast with Ruth’s help using all the fruit and veg they’d grown over the course of the project. Children enjoyed vegetable skewers, summer salads with beetroot and tomato, and crunchy corn on the cob.

Pessy Lieber, an 11 year old participant said: "it was a fun and exciting experience to plant, water and weed. And watching the crops grow encouraged me to take fruits and vegetables as a snack to school – something my mother couldn't persuade me to do before!".

Mrs Taub, one of the over 60s volunteers said: "it was such a pleasure watching the children take an active interest in nature and also sharing my love of nature with them".

Rachel Gruber who set up and ran the project understands how heart healthy grants like the BHF’s Help a Heart Grant can really help local communities: "very few families in this inner-London community have a garden or access to safe outdoor green space to cultivate their own produce. The gardening club provides an opportunity to bring children and families together and offers a non-competitive alternative to encourage physical activity for those children who dislike sports".

When the time came to end the project, the children wrote a wonderful poem of thanks, which takes pride of place in our office.