Present: Pat Still (Advocacy, Chair), David Crowe (City of Westminster College), Jan Bourne (Dartford Road Allotments), Vicki Prior (Health Education Authority), Alan Cremer (Dartford Borough Council), Richard Wiltshire (QED Website Manager).

1) Apologies for Absence: Thelma Mills.

2) Notes from the Meeting of March 17, 1999: Accepted. The Meeting of June 1 had been cancelled.

3) Matters Arising: Articles on the Horticultural Therapy project at Dartford Road Allotments have been published in Growth Point and Holistic Health.

4) Dartford Festival: Pat Still will attend the Festival Meeting on June 24 on behalf of the group. Exhibits in the marquee relating to health will include information from the Health Education Authority on sun safety, (600 free samples of E45/600 and 100 children's sun hats will be given away), and there will coverage of healthy eating issues in the Food Forum display. David Crowe brought to the meeting's attention the related issues of sun safety for domestic animals and the necessity for information on healthy eating not to encourage unhealthy dieting. Alan Cremer will continue to pursue Fawkham Manor for an exhibit covering blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. QED T-Shirts will be available for people staffing the exhibits. Vicki Prior received reassurances from Alan Cremer that the necessary passes for access to the site will be made available.

5) Resources: Pat Still asked for proposals for projects suitable for funding by QED. Richard Wiltshire and Jan Bourne spoke at length on plans for raised beds for physically disabled gardeners to be installed at Dartford Road Allotments. Railway sleepers may be required for these, and QED may be asked for funding if approaches to potential suppliers through the Waste Group fail to yield results. David Crowe will pass on details of suppliers used for a similar project at City of Westminster College directly to Jan Bourne. There was also support for the idea of a QED-sponsored visit to the facilities for disabled gardeners in Cheam Park (Sutton) and Thrive's headquarters in Reading later this summer, and a trip combining organic gardening at Yalding and the horticultural therapy project run by the Blackthorne Trust later in the autumn. The purposes of these visits would include seeing what works in practice and building contacts with people with specialised knowledge in the field.

6) Parliamentary Initiative: Richard Wiltshire and Dr Howard Stoate MP have discussed an initiative promoting allotments as healthy exercise for the active elderly, on which the NSALG has now been consulted. This would include a launch event in the House of Commons and possibly an adjournment debate as well. Further action has been postponed until the autumn, to allow time for the Local Government Association's "Advocacy Document" on allotments to be published (this will refer to QED and to health issues relating to allotments), and for the current Early Day Motion 631 to attract maximum attention (with support from the QED Allotments Group).

7) Publicity: Media coverage of QED activities seems to be increasing. QED will continue to work closely with Russell Bowie to improve press coverage further.

8) Visits: Richard Wiltshire summarised the programme for the "Gardens for People" Conference to be held in London September 11-12. Workshops on "Therapy through gardening" and "Healthy living - what role can gardens play?" would both be of interest to the group, and at least three other workshops would be of interest to other parts of QED. The QED Steering Group will be approached for funding to allow a substantial delegation to attend.

9) Any Other Business: None.

10) Dates of Next Meeting: Wednesday September 8 from 7 pm at the Civic Centre.

END: Return to the QED Health Group page ..