A THERAPEUTIC gardening and rural craft project, for people with mental health difficulties, has had a cash boost so it can run blacksmith workshops.

Root & Branch, which is based on an organic farm near Faringdon, has received £2,500 to run ten advanced workshops in blacksmithing being held this spring.

The cash has come from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation through its "Improving Employability Fund", a European Commission finance initiative which helps encourage people into employment.

The grant will allow the Root & Branch project, set up four years ago at Westmill Farm, Watchfield, to train its clients in the traditional skill.

Root & Branch was set up after a social services report identified a need for support for mental health sufferers in the Vale of White Horse.

It offers a wide range of gardening and craft-related activities, with staff and volunteers providing technical instruction and emotional support for those it helps.

The aims of the organisation are to provide people with something interesting, stimulating and creative to do in a supportive and friendly environment at the farm.

Since the project started, it has helped around two dozen people, some of whom have gone on to paid employment or university.

Wally Cox, grants manager for the foundation, said: "We try to focus on small, grass-roots community organisations that are making small but significant differences to people's lives.

"Using this European Social Fund money, the Oxfordshire Community Foundation is able to award grants making potentially great changes to those groups who find it difficult to access this kind of funding."

Liz Clarke, the manager of Root & Branch, said: "We have been surprised how popular and beneficial it has been. This funding means that we can continue to offer specialist training to enable people to develop the skills they have previously acquired."