Second call of the day is to Garden Africa which is a UK based charity working in Southern Africa setting up training gardens in schools and hospitals to teach people affected by poverty and HIV/AIDS how to grow nutritious food and medicinal plants to improve their health and generate income. They teamed up with Ally Pally Garden Centre this weekend and the garden centre is magnificently donating 20% of every purchase made.

I am photographed with Georgina McAllister who set up the charity. I have offered to try and find someone in the EU who can help them apply for funding. There is an enormous amount of funding available for work with HIV/AIDS and Africa etc – but how to get at it is the devil of the problem. I will contact MEP Sarah Ludford – but if there are any fund-getting specialists out there – feel free to contact me or them.