The garden the Princess of Wales visited on Thursday is run from Garon Park for Southend's STARS drug and alcohol service. What it is, and how to use it.
The Princess of Wales visited a gardening project at Garon Park in Southend on Thursday, run for people using the city’s drug and alcohol treatment service. She has been the charity’s Royal Patron since June 2021.
The project is called Forward Growing. It is run by The Forward Trust, the charity that holds the Southend Treatment and Recovery Service contract, and it is a partnership with Garon Park off Eastern Avenue.
Kensington Palace had not published an account of the visit on royal.uk when this was written, and the Court Circular had not yet reached 24 September. What follows is drawn from the charity’s own record of the project, the care regulator’s inspection findings and government treatment data, rather than from other outlets’ coverage of the day.
What Forward Growing is
The Forward Trust announced the partnership on 5 June. It set out:
- the project started on 29 May 2026
- weekly gardening sessions every Friday, 11am to 12pm, over a twelve-week programme
- the sessions support the garden space and gardening club at STARS, the charity’s Southend service on Weston Road
- Garon Park also hosts Forward’s Walk and Talk group on Thursdays, 2.30pm to 4pm
- there is an optional minibus pick-up and drop-off from STARS for the walking group
- the partnership is meant to leave a dedicated Forward gardening area at Garon Park
Paula Lee, coordinator at The Forward Trust in Southend, said in that announcement: “Our walk and talk sessions offer more than just fresh air, they create a safe, welcoming space for our service users to connect, reflect, and feel supported.”
Garon Park has also worked with the charity’s creative writing and art groups on material for the garden, including storyboarding garden characters and producing artwork.
Garon Park itself is run by Garon Park CIC, with a separate charity, Wellbeing at Garon Park, working on health and biodiversity at the site. Its address is the Cricket Pavilion, Eastern Avenue, SS2 4FA. The site also holds the athletics track, the golf complex, football pitches and padel courts, and its own website lists the clubs and groups that use it.
The service the garden is attached to
STARS stands for Southend Treatment and Recovery Service. It works from 25 to 27 Weston Road, SS1 1AS, and it is free.
The service’s own page says it is open to anyone aged 18 or over living in Southend-on-Sea who has a concern about drugs or alcohol. It is also open to people affected by someone else’s drinking or drug use. No referral from a GP is needed. You can self-refer.
What it offers, as listed by the charity:
- one-to-one keyworking and group support
- health checks and blood-borne virus testing
- help with detox and medication-assisted treatment
- a needle exchange
- outreach for people who are homeless
- criminal justice support
- counselling and peer support
- SMART Recovery and Forward Connect recovery groups
- a women’s coffee morning every Thursday, 10.30am to 12pm
The Care Quality Commission rates STARS Good, and Good in all five of the areas it scores: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. The most recent inspection was on 21 May 2026.
What the treatment figures say about Southend
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes how many people are in drug treatment in each council area, and how many complete it successfully. The most recent year is 2024/25.
In Southend-on-Sea that year:
- 444 people were in treatment for opiates, and 26 of them completed treatment successfully, a rate of 5.9%
- 304 people were in treatment for non-opiate drugs, and 127 of them completed treatment successfully, a rate of 41.8%
The England rates were 5.3% for opiates and 29.1% for non-opiates. OHID classes Southend as similar to England on the opiate measure and better than England on the non-opiate one.
Southend’s opiate completion rate has also risen for four years running, from 2.5% in 2020/21 to 5.9% last year. The figures are published in the public health profiles for opiate users and non-opiate users.
Why this week
The visit fell in Addiction Awareness Week, which runs from 19 to 25 September this year and is organised by The Forward Trust. The charity’s campaign for 2026 is called The Big Addiction Conversation.
It puts the number of people who die in the UK each year from drug and alcohol related causes at 17,000, roughly ten times the number killed on the roads, and it is asking the public to start 17,000 conversations about addiction over the year, one for each death.
Mike Trace, the charity’s chief executive, said in the campaign announcement: “We know how powerful a single conversation can be in the lives of people struggling with addiction, it can be the moment that changes everything for them.”
What it means for you
If you live in Southend and you want help with drugs or alcohol, or you are worried about someone else, you do not need a referral and you do not need to pay.
- Phone STARS on 01702 431889, or email southend.referrals@forwardtrust.org.uk
- Drop in or self-refer using the form on the service’s own page
- Opening hours, as published by the charity, are 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday, with Tuesday running to 7.30pm
- Check before you travel. The council’s Livewell Southend directory lists different hours for the same service, 9.30am to 5pm with late opening on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a different postcode. Ring first.
- Families and carers are covered too. The service supports people affected by another person’s substance use, not only the person using.
The Walk and Talk group meets at Garon Park on Thursday afternoons, with transport from Weston Road. Anyone already with STARS can ask their keyworker about it, and about the gardening sessions.
Elsewhere on Southend Today
- Southend bin collection days
- Southend council tax bands
- Parking in Southend
- Southend planning applications
Sources: The Forward Trust on the Forward Growing partnership and its Royal Patron; the STARS service page; the Care Quality Commission record for STARS; the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities public health profiles for drug treatment completion, opiate and non-opiate; and Garon Park.
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