'I spent two years in bed then I found garden therapy'

A charity is using the power of gardening to help people living with sight and hearing loss in North Yorkshire.

Scarborough-based Coastline Sight and Hearing is running allotment sessions to give people the opportunity to come together to garden, chat and have plenty of cups of tea.

Trustee Graham Varley said when he lost his sight in 2017 after multiple strokes he felt like his world had ended.

He said: "I spent two years in bed – then I met this lot and my whole life just changed."

In Scalby, among the raised allotment beds, is a mix of people tending to an array of fruit and vegetables.

The allotment is one of five in North Yorkshire established by the charity as part of a project backed by the National Lottery.

Mr Varley, who has developed Charles Bonnet syndrome, a condition associated with sight loss which causes people to have vivid hallucinations, said: "When you first lose your sight the world does end.

"But then when you get something like this, and everybody comes together, you grow again."

Fellow trustee Dave Tayne said socialising and mixing with other people "gives you a feeling of worth".

I've got a garden at home and I won't touch it.

"Coming out here, we've got a lovely day in the sun, a bit of fresh air, it's good for your health."

Mr Tayne was declared legally blind in 2011 after years of eyesight issues, including losing sight in one eye after being hit by a firework when he was a child.

"You could either be downbeat about it, sit in the house and sulk about 'oh poor me' or you can get out, mix with people and have fun," he said.

Sir Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester, said gardening was a form of therapy which had physical and mental benefits.

"The sensory experience is very important, particularly for people with sight or hearing loss. It can be a form of escapism and a release from tension or issues.

"There's that social connectivity too, you'll often be doing it with someone."

Mr Varley said the allotment sessions had encouraged him to try something new.

He added: "It gives you a great feeling of self-esteem.

"When you do something you've never done before and it works, it gives you a big uplift.

"You think, well if I can do this, what can't I do?"

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