\n<\/p>\n
A<\/span>nita Thursby had been dreading the gas engineer coming to service her boiler. They would have needed to enter her kitchen, where the window looked into the jungle of swirling, 2-metre-high brambles that made up her back garden, and her shame had spiralled. \u201cI would have been horrified,\u201d she says. For the same reason, the 54-year-old had stopped inviting friends over to her house and had been living in fear of a complaint from her housing association.<\/p>\n Maintaining the garden had slipped from her grasp, becoming a source of constant worry, yet pride had stopped her asking for help \u2013 and tight finances from paying for it. Family barbecues had become a distant memory, even though she longed to have her 83-year-old mother round to sit in the sun; weeks ago, she bought a grill in Tesco with little hope of ever\u00a0using\u00a0it.<\/p>\n Stephen Jalland nods as she explains all this. Sweat, from the exertion of hacking through the weeds clawing at Thursby\u2019s bungalow, is running down his face. His arms are crisscrossed with old scratches and the ruby-red blood of new ones, smearing into sticky blackberry-juice stains.<\/p>\n Thursby describes Jalland as \u201cfamily\u201d, but in truth they met just days ago. That was when he arrived to start clearing her garden for nothing \u2013 an act of generosity he has performed for about a dozen people with similarly overgrown outside spaces since launching a \u201cfree mows\u201d service on Facebook in June.<\/p>\n <\/span>Jalland and Thursby in her garden.<\/span> Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t think you understand how much difference you make to people,\u201d Thursby tells him, bringing coffee amid moldering vegetation and a thick fug of petrol fumes from his trimmer. \u201cDemons have been going in my head over this,\u201d she adds, gazing at the partly cleared space. \u201cInstantly, the weight is gone off my shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n Jalland nods again. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re aiming for,\u201d he says, gruffly. And it is that matter-of-factness for which she is most grateful. Jalland, 57, did not blink when he arrived. \u201cThere was no judgment at\u00a0all,\u201d she\u00a0says. \u201cHe said: \u2018Come on, let\u2019s\u00a0have a look.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But it is<\/em> judgment that has led Jalland to Thursby\u2019s garden, not far from his own home in the Cambridgeshire town of March. More specifically, the realisation that there is too much of it in the world. \u201cI was pissed off with people\u2019s attitudes,\u201d he says. It all started one afternoon in June when, finding himself with time on his hands as his new handyman business struggled to pick up work, he scrolled through a community Facebook group and noticed a post about an overgrown lawn. \u201cHere was an anonymous person having a go about somebody\u2019s garden, how people should take pride in where they live \u2026 You know, really having a go, not knowing their situation.\u201d<\/p>\n His reaction was instinctive: \u201cGive me the address and I\u2019m going to go down there and cut the grass.\u201d Someone messaged him the address privately, he says, and he immediately \u201cgot off my ass\u201d. When he arrived and offered his help, the man thanked him, then began to explain why his garden was as it was. \u201cHe was a single bloke living with his son and had various health problems. When his mower broke, he couldn\u2019t afford to replace it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Jalland at work.<\/span> Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Jalland spent two hours cutting the overgrowth and removing rubbish. Meanwhile, the man made him a curry. Jalland returned the following week to do his back garden, too. \u201cWe were able to sit down and have a chat. I got to know the bloke. Some people are on their own; they need someone to talk to. It\u2019s all part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n When he posted pictures of the garden\u2019s transformation on Facebook, an avalanche hit: \u201cIt got 40,000 likes and about 5,000 comments.\u201d He also received 1,000 direct messages asking for help, not generally from garden owners, but from their concerned neighbours, friends and family. \u201cI thought: \u2018What the hell have I done?\u2019\u201d Jalland recalls. \u201cPeople need help. Reading them, the amount that it brought me to tears was unreal.\u201d So he decided to offer one free garden clearance a week. He has been doing closer to three.<\/p>\n For every clearance, just as Jalland suspected, there has been a story of struggle lurking not so deeply in the weeds. It\u2019s rarely laziness or nonchalance. Behind Thursby\u2019s jungle is her father\u2019s ill health, her adult daughter\u2019s ill health and, finally, her own: a\u00a0stage-four cervical cancer diagnosis in 2024, followed by\u00a0gruelling treatment. \u201cI\u2019m sick a lot, I\u2019m tired and I stagger,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A few days before this, Jalland cleared for a \u201cbloke housebound on the sofa\u201d, whose doors were so blocked by overgrowth that they had become a \u201cfiretrap\u201d. Brambles reached his bungalow\u2019s gutters. Jalland spent seven hours clearing. Then there was a mum with cancer who wanted a space for her young daughter to play. Often, mental health concerns accompany or supersede physical ailments. \u201cI\u00a0did a woman the other day and you could see she\u2019s suffering \u2013 the anxiety, the stress,\u201d Jalland says.<\/p>\n <\/span>Jalland finds a suitcase amid the detritus.<\/span> Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Next, there was the married couple, one of whom had become her partner\u2019s carer and then broken her wrist. With garden maintenance becoming unmanageable, she became terrified of eviction. \u201cShe was in tears about it,\u201d he says. And\u00a0Jalland? \u201cGod, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n He admits he struggles to prioritise the jobs he takes on; he tends to go by instinct and geography, offering a visit when he is nearby doing paid work. \u201cI can\u2019t decide whether multiple sclerosis is worse than mental health, or mental health worse than being in a wheelchair \u2026 I\u2019m going to look at it as the bigger picture. Yes, somebody\u2019s struggling. Someone needs help.\u201d<\/p>\n In Thursby\u2019s garden, he begins to cry again. He is deeply moved by her thanks. She adored her garden after moving here with her daughter in 2008. \u201cI have been feeling very down, I think because of the state of it, but also realising what my limitations are,\u201d she says. \u201cThe worse it got, the more I realised I was never physically going to be able to get on top of it.\u201d She worried about what people would say. \u201cWould there be a complaint? I didn\u2019t want anybody to come round.\u201d In the end, a friend messaged Jalland. \u201cI would never have asked,\u201d Thursby says.<\/p>\n J<\/span>alland\u2019s understanding stems from his own experience. The father of three worked all his adult life as an engineer, but left his job about a year ago to work for himself. His wife works in care and he knows he may need to get a \u201cproper job\u201d again at some point, to help make ends meet. He has had depression in the past and still takes medication. \u201cI\u2019ve been at the bottom of that barrel looking up quite a few times,\u201d he says. It happened initially after a motorcycle accident when his wife was expecting their first child. They had moved into their first home and his physical injuries, plus the stress of being unable to work or maintain the house, sent him to a dark place.<\/p>\n Then came an offer of assistance. \u201cIt was an occupational therapist,\u201d he recalls. \u201cShe asked: \u2018What could we do to help?\u2019 I said the garden was a mess; they cleared and gravelled it, so it was maintenance-free. I felt on top of the world, a feeling of: thank God that\u2019s done\u00a0\u2013 that\u2019s one thing that won\u2019t play on\u00a0my mind.<\/p>\n \u201cMe cutting the grass does not fix somebody\u2019s mental health problems,\u201d he continues. \u201cBut it can aid in making them feel a little bit better about themselves. It just takes away that little bit of stress.\u201d He knows what a patch of usable garden can give. \u201cI\u2019ve said to people: \u2018I\u2019m going to make you a space where you can come out of the house and sit and have a cup of coffee and enjoy the sunshine.\u2019 It\u2019s a safe space, a happy space, a clear space.\u201d He is not a gardener, he admits, but he\u2019s making a difference all the same. \u201cI always say: \u2018It\u2019s not perfect, but it\u2019s better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Jalland gets emotional on the job.<\/span> Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n As he launches himself at the final section of Thursby\u2019s garden, Jalland explains that he didn\u2019t know how to cut back overgrowth when he began offering free garden clearances; he says it\u2019s \u201ctrial and error\u201d. His main tools are two trimmers (one was donated), a rake, a grass-covered broom and a small mower, about 30 years old, which he calls \u201cthe little mower that can\u201d. You quickly see why.<\/p>\n His formula is to use a bladed trimmer to slash the tangles of brambles at their trunk-like bases, then yank the woody knots towards him with a rake, to loosen them. He then daubs at the tangles with his trimmer, like an artist with a brush, watching the fragments of stem slip to the floor before the mower chomps it all to sawdust. \u201cYou\u2019ve just got to go at it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Along with carrier bags and other assorted rubbish, objects start to reveal themselves as the undergrowth thins. At Thursby\u2019s, there is a suitcase and an old Little Tikes easel. \u201cOh my God, that was here<\/em>!\u201d she says. She recalls her daughter using it as a child. \u201cShe had chalks, she would scribble all over\u00a0it\u00a0\u2013 she\u00a0loved\u00a0crafts.\u201d<\/p>\n Jalland knows that many people will not be able to maintain his work, but he doesn\u2019t mind. \u201cI\u2019d love them to keep on top of it, but they can\u2019t always. I get that. The way I think about it is: I\u2019ll be doing this all again next year if that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n He is trying to gather momentum by posting on social media, hoping he can generate funding. At the time of writing, he has only 140 YouTube subscribers. \u201cThe videos are shit,\u201d he says. Meanwhile, he is crowdfunding for new tools, with \u00a3695 raised so far.<\/p>\n Even when his paid work picks up, he wants to keep his free garden clearances going on Saturdays. \u201cI\u00a0think I have found a purpose for my life, in a way,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a need and I can fill it \u2013 and it\u2019s filling big gaps in my heart, isn\u2019t it?\u201d Has he seen a change in his own mood? \u201cI don\u2019t know, because I\u2019m knackered,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when I go home and take my boots off, I do feel I have done something good.\u201d<\/p>\n In the UK, the mental health charity <\/em>Mind<\/em> is available on 0300 123 3393. In the US, call or text <\/em>Mental Health America<\/em> at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at <\/em>Beyond Blue<\/em> on 1300 22 4636, <\/em>Lifeline<\/em> on 13 11 14 and <\/em>MensLine<\/em> on 1300 789 978<\/em><\/p>\n Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section, please <\/em><\/strong>click here<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anita Thursby had been dreading the gas engineer coming to service her boiler. They would have needed to enter her kitchen, where the window looked into the jungle of swirling, 2-metre-high brambles that made up her back garden, and her shame had spiralled. \u201cI would have been horrified,\u201d she says. For the same reason, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[18679,533,15877,1718,2004,6805,2725,3948,1541,364,1101,12086,9116],"class_list":{"0":"post-51721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-clearing","9":"tag-free","10":"tag-gardens","11":"tag-giving","12":"tag-happy","13":"tag-letting","14":"tag-light","15":"tag-lives","16":"tag-man","17":"tag-people","18":"tag-space","19":"tag-strangers","20":"tag-volunteering"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}