MORE than 100 guests joined staff of Kendal mental health charity Growing Well to mark the official opening of its new kitchen garden at Tebay Services.

Cumbria High Sheriff Sam Scott, from Windermere, cut the ribbon on one of the polytunnels now filled with growing salad leaves that will soon form the first commercial supply of fresh vegetables to Tebay's farmshops and kitchens just a few hundred metres away.

It marks the start of a replication project for Growing Well, which has helped hundreds of people recover from mental health problems by volunteering at its organic fruit and vegetable farm at Low Sizergh.

Already the new Tebay project is making a difference to people’s lives.

Howard Bell, from Brough, is one of the first volunteers at the kitchen garden and has been going to Growing Well at Tebay Services every week for 3 months.

He said: "In a former life I was a zoologist and scientist and like many other people here I have suffered from mental health issues.

"I've gone through the usual trajectory of going through the GP, and getting lots of little pills that really didn't do a lot for me, so I came here to do something practical and worthwhile and fulfilling.

"At Growing Well it’s giving you something with purpose, something to do.

"It's a very, very pleasant and refreshing alternative approach to mental health because Growing Well is and will in the future save lives."

READ MORE: Charity achieves major ambition after opening second Cumbria site

High Sheriff Sam Scott told guests gathered at the event during Mental Health Awareness Week, that the partnership between the charity and Westmorland Family was an 'inspiring example' of a business and charity working together to address a real community need, enabling Growing Well to fill a gap in mental health provision in an area of rural isolation and limited services.

Growing Well Chair of Trustees Jim Sharp thanked the Dunning family for their generous support, the National Lottery Community Fund, and the staff from both teams who had delivered the project on time and on budget.

"Opening this second site is a major milestone for us", he said.

"It is the first step of an ambitious strategy to bring our service to more communities in Cumbria. 

"This means that we can address unmet mental health needs in  isolated rural and challenged urban communities."