SIR – This year, Mental Health Awareness Week (May 13 to 19) is focused on the benefits of physical activity and exercise on mental health and wellbeing.

To celebrate the event, Hive would like to say a huge thank you to the people of Bradford, who have supported the project’s work connecting those with mental health problems to ‘green exercise’ therapy.

Since 2010, Hive’s Out There, an Ecominds and Big Lottery Fund project, has been able to help more than 200 people improve their mental health by getting outdoors and into nature. Mind’s research has found that 94 per cent of people surveyed who took part in activities such as walking and gardening said it had benefited their mental health, so we know our work makes a difference.

Our project has helped to reach out to the one in four people diagnosed in any one year with a mental health problem, and support them to connect with nature through cultivating a unique natural dye garden, preparing the dyes from the plants and using them to prepare textiles for public “Eco-art” pieces.

Project participants have reported a tremendous boost to their self-esteem and confidence by taking part in the projects and making valuable connections with other people in similar situations.

This would never have been achieved without valued partnerships with organisations and dedicated volunteers across Bradford.

Joy Hart, community arts manager, Hive, Kirkgate, Shipley