We were delighted to welcome the Welsh Minister for Health & Social Services, Eluned Morgan, last Friday, who enjoyed a tour of our projects heritage veg and wellness gardens. It was a great opportunity to discuss the importance of projects such as ourselves, and the vital role nature can play in supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of all. Thanks also goes again to Brecon Cathedral for their ongoing support of our groups work, and for providing the spaces that have enabled us to create much needed food and wildlife havens for the community as a whole.

Join us in the peaceful and beautiful setting of the new Heritage Kitchen Garden at Brecon Cathedral. Immerse yourself in colour, texture and scent through mindfulness and nature connection based practices. 

This workshop forms part of a series of events funded by the Heritage Lottery Grant for the '1000 Years of Calm' heritage and landscape trail at Brecon Cathedral.

To find out more and to book a place please contact Jess. Details can be found on the poster below.

​We hope you will join us for this very special event. 

Thank you to everyone who attended, enjoyed and donated plants towards our plant sale project fundraiser on the 29th May at Brecon Cathedral. The day was a great success seeing us raise £445 and counting, as many remaining plants are still available to purchase outside Pilgrims tearoom in the grounds. It was particularly lovely for the Green Minds team and group members to see so many people inhabiting and enjoying the new community garden space, many of whom up until now, didn't realise we were there!

Thank you also for all the lovely feedback and comments left by customers, it's great to hear peoples thoughts and to know many found the space inspiring and beneficial to the community as a whole.

Join us in the Diocesan car park at Brecon Cathedral for a Spring plant sale. All money raised will go towards Green Minds social & therapeutic gardening projects. If you have any spares you would like to donate please bring these by 10am. Veg, flowers, indoor, outdoor, all welcome! No plants will be turned away.

​Current Covid rules will apply. 

The lovely Pilgrims cafe will be open from 11am serving food & drinks.

We look forward to seeing you there!
​
For more info please email: jess.t@breconmind.org.uk

We are delighted to be offering our craft workshops again this Spring. Our upcoming willow plant support workshop will take place within the spacious grounds of Brecon Cathedral. Due to social distancing places are limited so please book ahead at £5 per person. No experience necessary and all equipment will be provided. The lovely Pilgrims cafe at Brecon Cathedral will be open serving hot drinks, cakes and lunches.

As we continue to extend our offerings online due to the ongoing lockdown restrictions, we enjoyed our first webinar this week, which forms part of a series of three entitled "From Winter to Spring".

The first of our talks focused on Community Gardening and our collaboration with Brecon Cathedral for the new Heritage & Landscape Trail "1000 Years of Calm", where the Green Minds gardeners will be creating a new heritage vegetable garden.

Our second talk next month will focus on spring foraging and ways to boost your immune system, culminating in our final webinar in April, which will come 'live from the woods' and focus on some mindful offerings amongst the trees!

For more information and to sign up to any of these free webinars just send Jess an email at jess.t@breconmind.org.uk

We hope you'll join us as we welcome in the spring!

We were delighted to announce last month that Brecon Cathedral, in partnership with ourselves, had been successfully awarded a £9000 grant through the Heritage Lottery Fund to create a heritage landscape trail through the cathedral grounds. The project, entitled '1000 Years of Calm' will see the renovation of two notable graves and the creation of an interactive trail, taking in key historical sites in and around the cathedral, which will round off at a newly created heritage vegetable garden, designed and implemented by our group members, and a lovely addition to our already developing community wellbeing garden, which will neighbour the designated site.

As well as the work required to construct the new beds and plant up the selected fruit, veg, herbs and cut flowers, there will be a selection of workshops throughout the coming months to accompany the developing trail and points of interest.

A huge thanks goes out to Dr. Sarah Ward Clavier, who successfully applied for the grant, and to the cathedral team who have allowed us this opportunity to continue our collaboration with them and their grounds, becoming just a small part of the cathedrals long history within the town.

For further details regarding the project click here!

It was great to get further publicity for the project this month after being asked to feature in the Brecon & Radnor Express and Beacons Magazine. Its been vital for us to raise the profile of the project, being one of only very few community groups still allowed to continue offering services to those isolated or struggling with the effects of the pandemic in recent months. Continued thanks to our group members who have participated so enthusiastically to our 1:1 sessions, helping to regenerate our garden space in the cathedral grounds, and walking and sharing together in neighbouring Priory Groves.

We were recently invited by the Hinterlands Wales project 'Ahoi! What Grows Here?' to run a canal side workshop in conjunction with their new floating resource, Storm Kitchen.

The projects main aim is about exploring food, land, community resources and imagination on the Brecon & Monmouthshire Canal, and forms part of a wider arts and environment programme happening on the canal between 2018-2021, and developed in conjunction with the Canal & River Trust and arts organisation Peak, based in Crickhowell.

We were delighted at Green Minds to be given this opportunity, which included a sensory focused mindful wander exploring autumnal themes, rounded up by a creative session using plant based inks and homemade charcoals to sketch, draw and paint collected items from along the canal. Storm Kitchen provided a great base to work from, and the barges owner Ella Gibbs supplied some beautiful restorative herbals teas and snacks to accompany our creativity.

Going forward Storm Kitchen is inviting local growers, producers and makers to add stock to its floating larder, which it will trade on a sale and return basis as it navigates the canal system. As well as a shared resource and community trading outlet and tea bar, Hinterlands Wales are also running a schedule of online talks that will stream live from Storm Kitchen on a variety of dates across October.

For further details and to find out more please visit: www.ahoiwhatgrows.com

Many thanks again to Ella and the Hinterlands Team!

Nature Therapy Sessions taking place in a beautiful woodland setting developed especially for Key Workers & Carers working in the community.

Spending time in nature has proven to lower blood pressure, reduce stress, improve empathy and creativity, and boost your immune system. The sessions are designed to offer time in nature for gentle walking, reflection and sharing in a beautiful woodland setting on the outskirts of Brecon

Each session will be guided by Green Minds ecotherapists Jess Tanner and Em Charles. 
The sessions have been designed as stand alone experiences. You are very welcome to take part in one, or all of the sessions if you wish, which are running one Saturday a month between October and January for 3 hours each. 

The sessions are suitable for those who may not normally choose to go for a walk in the woods, practice mindfulness or spend time connecting in nature. It’s gentle, inclusive, pleasurable and welcoming – perfect for those wishing to take time out for themselves away from the stresses and worries of day to day life. 

If you have any further questions or would like more information on the sessions, then please feel free to contact us on: 07487 523 991