THE National Lottery Community Fund has awarded £87,551 to a Dunsfold Park-based charity supporting adults living with autism.

The mega-boost for JigsawPlus will go towards the development of a new horticultural nursery.

Jigsaw Plus is part of the Jigsaw Trust charity and currently supports 40 adult learners by providing a range of specialist day services to enhance wellbeing, independence and social inclusion.

Following a very successful three years of running GARDENworks at Jigsaw, it became clear the horticultural activities were a huge benefit to Jigsaw’s learners.

With the support of Dunsfold Park Ltd, the charity took the decision to try to establish a much a larger garden near its centre for lifelong learning.

Jigsaw’s head of fundraising Robin Legge said: “We are incredibly grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for its amazing support.

“Securing funding for the new GARDENworks Nursery has been one of our biggest priorities and it’s wonderful the Fund has recognised the impact this project will have on all our learners.

“All our learners will have the opportunity to grow plants in the garden, some of which will be supplied to Jigsaw’s Café enterprise.

“Our pupils and adult learners will also have the opportunity to sell their produce at local farmers’ markets, encouraging their engagement with the wider community.”

* The nursery project is due for completion in September 2019. For more information about Jigsaw, call 01483 273874 or e-mail [email protected].