The Battersea Park-based charity Thrive, which uses gardening to help people with disabilities or ill health, is bidding to bag a cash boost from Tesco and it needs your vote.

The supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork on its Bags of Help initiative, which see grants of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

Thrive’s project is to hold summer gardening sessions for children with disabilities and it will go head to head with two other charities in the area. Shoppers will decide the outcome with voting taking place throughout May and June.

Thrive wants to give children with disabilities the chance to carry out simple and fun gardening tasks at NatureScope on Wandsworth Common.

The children will have the opportunity to harvest vegetables which they will then be able to take home – promoting healthy eating, pond dipping, pot decorating, planting seeds, making bird feeders, grass heads and much more.

The charity, which has been established for almost 40 years, uses gardening as a therapy to help people with disabilities or ill health, or those who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable.

You can vote for Thrive at Tesco Express stores, in Balham, Battersea Rise, Earlsfield Garret, Earlsfield Station, Falcon Battersea, Putney (Upper Richmond Road), Southfields, Summerstown, Tooting Broadway, Upper Tooting, Wandsworth Battersea Rise and Wandsworth High Street, and also at Tesco Metro, Battersea.

Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Groundwork’s national Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help is giving our communities both the funding and the support to create better, healthier and greener places for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between.

“They’re all fantastic projects that make a real difference in our neighbourhoods.

“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”

Article supplied by Alyson Chorley