Launched to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, the Plant a Thought project has raised £1460 for charity by growing and distributing free wildlife-friendly flower seedlings.

Thirty 'pollinator packs' were left around Leasowes Park for people to find by founder, Darren Kench, with the project also raising awareness of Leasowes Walled Garden and Greenfingers Charity - the wonderful UK organisation that creates gardens in children's hospices.

As a volunteer for Leasowes Walled Garden, Darren has supported their efforts to make Halesowen a more connected and colourful community in which to live, work and visit and has also supported Greenfingers through his contribution to a new gardening book.

Many people have got behind this year's Plant a Thought project, with donations coming from as far away as Detroit. They have all contributed to the total of £1,460.00, with each charity receiving £730.00 towards the cost of a new hospice garden and improving the site.

Leasowes Walled Garden is a haven in Halesowen, providing a refuge for the community and the wildlife it attracts through the work of Halesowen Abbey Trust, which manages the site with nature in mind and will use the money raised to boost biodiversity, creating an important wildlife habitat.