Google Maps, for some unknown reason,  doesn't show the lovely oasis of the Cluny Gardens Allotments in Southend-on-Sea as green.  Don't they realise that the Benedictine monks of Prittlewell Priory gardened there for 400 years until Henry VIII scattered them to the four winds?  The current King of the Cluny Gardens is Tony Wagstaff who is a Reparation and Community Practitioner with Southend's  ISSP (Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme)...and, in ordinary language, a thoroughly nice bloke.  Since 2011 Tony has designed a garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show and won ten medals and awards.  Each year he takes a group of young people from the Early Help Family Support and Youth Offending Service and they create a memorable garden, some of which then go on to have a future life brightening up different parts of Southend.  In this podcast we hear from Tony and three of his volunteers, Rob, Curtis and Jake and from case worker, Ricardo, and social worker, Jane.

You can catch up with them at the Hampton Court Flower Show this year which runs from 5-11 July.  They are creating one of the big show gardens, The Ability Garden.  https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-garden-festival/gardens/2021/the-ability-garden
You can see The Therapeutic Garden talked about by Tony and Rob in the podcast here:
https://www.southend.gov.uk/community-1/hampton-court-flower-show
https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/article/southend-young-offenders-a-place-to-think-garden
The music is The Parisian played by Kevin Macleod (with thanks for making this available under Creative Commons license).

In Kolkata in India the virus is spreading rapidly through the city.  Many people are out of work and there are many newly homeless families living on the street with nothing to eat.   There have been two catastrophic cyclones and widespread flooding in the region.   The government is increasingly concerned about what is going to happen to the 'Covid orphans'.  

In this final podcast about Future Hope we hear from founders, Tim and Erica Grandage, CEO, Sujata Sen, School Principal, Madhu Ravi, and Senior Girl, Jhili, who sang and composed the music.  We also hear from alumni Rajesh and Mintu, who was the very first Future Hope boy.  Don’t miss little Naitik at the very end.  You can catch up with all Future Hope’s news on Twitter or Instagram or on their website www.futurehope.net.    They never stop helping other people to make the world a better place.

It is Mintu as a young boy who we see in the picture.

Education is a human right but one that millions of children are still denied. By providing underprivileged children with an education Future Hope School in Kolkata gives them the key to unlock opportunity; a chance to get a decent job, to escape poverty and to support their families & communities.   In Episode 2 of the Future Hope story we hear from three students who are achieving their dreams and also the amazing plans for the future from the founders, Tim and Erica Grandage, and their CEO, Sujata Sen.

https://www.futurehope.net/our-work/our-school/

Music from the pupils of Future Hope school in celebration of the birthday of Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore.

In the final episode we will hear about the extraordinary outreach work the whole school has been doing during the pandemic and Cyclone Amphan last summer and Cyclone Kaas which devastating West Bengal right now.