Happy Plant, Happy Mind: Growing Wellbeing at Barshaw Park
Friends of Barshaw Park was delighted to receive £20,000 from the Mind Your Health Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme 2026/27.
As Secretary of Friends of Barshaw Park, I have been leading a programme of activities designed to bring people together through gardening, learning, creativity and community connection.
At the heart of the programme is a simple idea: Happy Plant, Happy Mind.
Since March, we have delivered a growing range of workshops and outreach activities, including herb planting and wellbeing sessions with Williamburgh Housing and at the Tannahill Centre, horticultural workshops with a lecturer from West College Scotland, a Planting for Pollination evening, and our Spring Seed Festival.
The response has been fantastic. Our Tannahill Centre workshop brought together 25 people, while around 40 adults and five children joined us for the Spring Seed Festival. Feedback from participants has been extremely positive, with people telling us the activities helped them learn new skills, meet others and support their mental health and wellbeing.
The programme has also helped us build new relationships with organisations including ReMode, Create Paisley, Foxbar Community Garden and Williamburgh Housing, with several groups now becoming more involved in Barshaw Community Garden.
For me, the most important part of the programme is connection. Gardening can give people a reason to come together, share skills, have a laugh and feel part of something.
As I often say:
“Improving wellbeing with a little help from our friends.”
We still have plenty to look forward to during autumn, including our Renfrewshire Doors Open Day activities on 5 September, a planned Harvest Festival and patio planters for Winter and Spring.
And I am already looking forward to developing an exciting new programme for 2027.
Sometimes wellbeing can begin with something very simple: a conversation, a cup of tea, a seed in a pot and a welcoming place to belong.
Alice
Friends of Barshaw Park
