Pluto, volunteer gardener, on the importance of our Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden
Meet Pluto, one of the many volunteer gardeners who, with Providence Row and Grounded Ecotherapy, maintain our Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden.
As we get set to reopen the Southbank Centre following a year behind closed doors, some of the hardest working people toiling to ready our venues for visitors can be found on our Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden.
Created 10 years ago to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden has become the summer sun spot of choice for those who know the South Bank well. A true oasis within the surrounding concrete awaits for anyone who climbs the yellow stairs.
But whilst you may feel smug at knowing how to find it, did you know the garden is maintained by a team of volunteers who have two things in common; they all enjoy getting their hands dirty, and they have all previously experienced homelessness, addiction or problems with mental health?
All of the volunteers working on our garden have joined us through a programme co-ordinated by London homeless charity Providence Row, and Grounded Ecotherapy, who provide therapy through horticulture for people who have lived through addiction or homelessness. The programme is a means of offering people support, but also opportunities for personal growth and professional development.
One of our longest serving volunteers in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden is Pluto, who has been volunteering in the garden since the summer of 2016, having been introduced to the programme by a friend who works for Providence Row.
‘I joined Grounded Eco-Therapy to better myself, not to be so depressed all the time, so that I would be happy and doing something constructive. I started in the summer of 2016. I suffer from depression, and during that year I had about five people that I was really close to pass away. Basically I needed to get out the house and stop staring at the walls.’
Being part of the garden has really helped Pluto with his mental health. ‘Oh yeah it’s great, and you get your hands dirty. I was soon feeling better once I got the chance to come down here and do some gardening. If I haven’t got health or other appointments, then I’m up at eight o’clock in the morning and I’m raring to go.’
‘I was soon feeling better once I got the chance to come down here and do some gardening’
‘The garden is very therapeutic. There are a lot of plants, a lot of birds, like that one there. She’s back again, she’s singing to us. She has a nest just up there. And bees; a few years ago I did the planting on the stairs that lead down to Festival Square and as soon as I planted the purple, yellow and red flowers, the bees came and pollinated the flowers and it was like, ‘wow, brilliant’.’
We asked Pluto if volunteering in the garden gives him a sense of achievement. ‘Yes it does. It’s really fulfilling, in knowing that you’ve done something for the environment and it makes the place look good. I’ve made some good friends too, and I’m always learning things as well. The skills I’ve gained in the garden will help me to get up and get out early in the morning. And the experience I get here is helping to keep my mind occupied too.’
When we caught up with him Pluto was part of a team of gardeners, working under head gardener Paul Pulford, to get things ready for the roof garden’s reopening. ‘We laid the lawn a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve been planting these beds, and the different plants within them so that it gives the garden more foliage, more ambience to the garden, now there’s a nice word.’
The Queen Elizabeth Roof Garden reopens to the public on Monday 21 June.