"The polytunnels have given RAF Leeming families a sense of community"

To mark National Gardening Week (28 April - 4 May), we spoke with personnel from RAF Leeming to find out how grants from the Fund towards polytunnels and a new outdoor wellbeing area have benefitted them.

In 2019, the Fund provided a grant to RAF Leeming to fund polytunnels for serving personnel and their families to improve their mental health and wellbeing, and improve socialisation amongst the RAF community. More recently, the Fund has provided grants for an outdoor wellness area at the polytunnels, in addition to new tools, potting benches and bee-keeping products.  

The polytunnels are looked after by a group of volunteers based at RAF Leeming. For them, the polytunnels have had a hugely positive impact on their wellbeing.

For Corporal Liam Barsby, the polytunnels have helped him make new connections. He said: “The polytunnels have connected people who would have never met beforehand. It helps bring personnel and family members out of their homes and enjoy socialising, with the wellbeing area as a centre piece.

"It’s all about community – we pull together to help those who can’t make it down for whatever reason by watering their plots and carrying out maintenance for them. The sense of community and belonging has helped increase the mental health of the volunteers as well as the wellbeing of people who use the facility for meetings or just to have lunch."

The polytunnels have also enabled Liam to gain new skills. He said: "From learning how to grow food to woodwork and animal husbandry, and even beekeeping – there’s so much to learn. Because of this project made possible by the RAF Benevolent Fund, people are brought together to carry out activities that align with their interests – it’s a brilliant example of teamwork and resourcefulness."

Squadron leader Mike Tunstall became a user of the polytunnels in March 2024. He said: "The team running the polytunnels immediately made me feel welcome - I very much enjoy the mentoring offered and connecting with likeminded people from across the station."

He added: "During the time I have spent in the wellness area, I have been able to switch off from work and forget any problems in my private life. Another obvious highlight is being able to take the produce that we grow home and cook with it; my partner is certainly very impressed! I also enjoy witnessing families including young children making use of and enjoying the facility.

"Beyond any shadow of doubt, the wellness area has become an extremely valuable, desirable and integral station asset.  Without the generous funding provided by the RAF Benevolent Fund, serving personnel and their families would not be able to benefit from the wide range of rewarding activities that are available there. Being an isolated unit this resource becomes all the more important for providing a community of interest to families and individuals based at RAF Leeming."

The polytunnels have also been a great outlet for AS1 Oskar Shaw. He said: "I joined the RAF Leeming polytunnel as a volunteer rather early on during my posting and have remained there to this day. I have managed to help make the area look more pleasing for any visitors, which varies from digging out weeds and spreading pebbles in certain areas to sanding benches down and repainting them with fresh paint."

He added: "It is a place where you can go to just unwind while doing something productive, working towards a mutual goal with the rest of the team. There is aways plenty to do, from gardening to looking after the bees and chickens. The community is very approachable and very happy to help out regarding any issue you may have, they leave rank behind so an AS1 can bond with an officer which helps build and maintain a strong bond between all the members."