Viva Brighton Issue #72 February 2019

BEANS AND BOBS
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CHARITY BOX #34: EARTHWORKS
Earthworks is a bereavement
allotment group for
men. We have a bereavement
service here at Martlets Hospice
that is open to anyone
who’s been bereaved, but one
of the groups that we know
we’re not reaching through
our traditional ways is men.
Led by a counsellor and a
volunteer gardener, we use
the allotment on Mondays
specifically for them.
We’re now opening
Earthworks up to men who
have been bereaved in the
last two and a half years in
Brighton and Hove, who
might like to meet with other men who’ve also
been bereaved. It’s a space where they can have a
shared experience, and work on the allotment.
If it’s bad weather, we’ve got a shed with a
wood burner and cover so it doesn’t have to
be just a fine-weather place. People don’t have
to have any particular knowledge of gardening
or allotments and they don’t even need to be
physically fit and well. A day would typically
start with everyone arriving and having a cup of
tea, just checking in on how people are since the
last week. After the work’s done they’ll sit down
and have a snack, more tea, and chat with each
other about how they are. It’s very fluid, but the
intention is also to help men to talk about the
things that they find really difficult to talk about,
in a way that feels quite safe.
People who use gardening and allotments
are outside, so they’re actually in nature,
which gives them a very different space. They
can think about and
access their feelings and
thoughts about what’s
going on for them in a
different way. It’s very immediate,
it’s very concrete.
They planted some broad
bean seeds the other day
which are now growing in
the greenhouse, looking
quite strong, which shows
that it’s possible that there
is new growth and new
life. At first they might
not relate to that at all,
but a few months down
the line they can look
back and think ‘when
we sowed those broad bean seeds I felt utterly
hopeless, but a number of months on I’m feeling
a little bit more like there might be something
for me’.
At the same time, life can be very tough and
bad stuff happens to us. Sometimes at the
allotment a crop might fail or only half of the
seedlings might have grown. When things don’t
go right, we might link that to ‘when have things
not gone right in your life?’, ‘who was around to
help you?’, ‘what did you do then?’. This builds
up their reconnection with the fact that this is
really tough, but they have managed in the past
and that they are able to find a new way.
As told to Joe Fuller by Jane Cato, Counselling and
Bereavement Services Manager at Martlets Hospice
Earthworks takes place on Mondays throughout
the year at Weald Allotments in Hove. To find out
more contact Anne Clay on 01273 273400 or email
bereavement@martlets.org.uk.
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