Structured Volunteer pathway for the armed forces community
Growing Champions
A national programme to train, authorise and sustain veterans as community growing leaders.
Growing Champions carries the skills, confidence and connection built in our gardens out into the wider community. Veterans who have come through Defence Gardens Scheme programmes are trained and supported to lead growing in gardens, allotments and green spaces across the UK - for the benefit of everyone.
From participant to community leader
Recovery in the garden often brings with it a wish to give something back. Growing Champions turns that wish into a structured, recognised role - one with training, authorisation and continuing support behind it.
Growing Champions do not only support fellow veterans. They support community gardening as a whole, bringing the teamwork, discipline and care of service to projects that serve neighbourhoods across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The programme embodies the Defence Gardens Scheme's core values of People, Place and Purpose, and brings them to life well beyond our own gardens.
PEOPLE
Veterans supported — and supporting others
Place
Gardens and green spaces rooted in local communities
PURPOSE
a recognised role with meaning, structure and progression
Stories
Meet Graham and Pauline
Graham and Pauline are the first Growing Champions to complete all five stages of the pathway, training at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. In our film they talk about what the journey has meant to them and what comes next.
Graham now also volunteers with the Gurkha Welfare Trust, leading community gardening.
Across the UK
A national network of Hubs
Growing Champions is being rolled out through regional Hubs, in partnership with some of the UK's leading gardens, starting at the Eden Project in Cornwall in November 2026 and extending across all four nations through 2027 and 2028. Each Hub delivers the ten-week programme and gives Champions a home for ongoing development and peer support.
Evidence
Built on research, shaped by evidence
Growing Champions is grounded in research and independent evaluation. We work with academic and evaluation partners to understand how individual recovery connects with collective wellbeing and community resilience, and we use what we learn to develop the programme and share good practice.
Our work on community resilience also informed the Defence Gardens Scheme's written evidence to the House of Lords National Resilience Committee.
Our evidence to the House of Lords
In the news · The i Paper · October 2026
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Get Involved
Every Growing Champion works within the Defence Gardens Scheme's governance and safeguarding framework.
Veterans
Lead growing in your community
If you have taken part in a Defence Gardens Scheme programme and would like to train as a Growing Champion, we would love to hear from you.
Gardens and community groups
Host a Growing Champion
Would your garden or community project benefit from a Growing Champion? Our Gardens Guide will explain how hosting works, including safeguarding and the support we provide.
Funders and partners
Help the network grow
Partner with us to establish Hubs and train Growing Champions across all four UK nations.