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When Ken Tudgay, now 73, took early retirement from a company where he had worked for 46 years, and had ended up as a production manager with 400 people working under him, he had no fear of feeling “lost”.

His two great loves were working with people and working on his allotment.

He had already done some work with Thrive, the gardening charity that is one of the charities being supported by this year's Times charity appeal.

Letter from the Editor

The global financial crisis means charities are struggling as never before to raise funds and meet a sudden surge in demand for their services

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• Video: Corinne Bailey Rae on why she supports Pump Aid

• Video: Dermot Murnaghan on why he supports Action for Children

• Video: Sally Brampton explains why she supports Thrive

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• Who cares? I do

“I have always worked with people, fundraising for different events,” says Mr Tudgay, whose wife Valerie also volunteers with Thrive.

He started with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, and it was with them that he first visited the Victorian walled garden at Beech Hill, Reading, which is used by Thrive.

“We went out there to dig a big hole for a Japanese garden,” he says. He was asked if he liked gardening. He replied that for 40 years he had tended two allotments.

“When I finished work each day I used to take all my problems down to the allotments. I could leave my worries there, where I worked with the birds singing, the peace and quiet, and where I talked to nature.

“By the time I'd finished I had resolved all my problems, and returned to work the next day happy.”

Working with the disabled clients at Thrive has the same effect. It puts any problems he thinks he might have into perspective.

“When you are working with them, they give 110 per cent. When you've completed a day, they thank you for giving them a lovely day. You say, 'No, thank you'. Nothing is a problem. To me they are a wonderful family.

“You cannot beat nature [therapy]. We have a garden here, a secret garden. We sit here with the birds singing and the sun shining and think, this is heaven.”

Thrive, like so many charities, couldn't survive without volunteers such as Mr Tudgay.

In 2007 and 2008 volunteers put in more than 13,300 hours with Thrive, of which more than 9,000 hours were given by independent volunteers and 4,300 hours by corporate volunteers. Volunteers outnumber the charity's paid staff by more than two to one.

The charity's mission is based on a passionate belief in the power of gardening to help disabled people.

One in five people in Britain lives with a disability. Also, more than six million people have chronic anxiety and depression diagnosed every year — many of whom can benefit from horticultural therapy.

Gardening has been shown to bring about improvements in physical health by reducing problems such as obesity. It also improves psychological health by giving people a sense of purpose and achievement and has positive effects on self-esteem and self-worth. Working in a group can also reduce a person's sense of isolation.

Projects that help to develop leadership skills and also awareness of working with disabled people include moving polytunnels and sheds, clearing ditches and digging paths.

Mike Wells, who runs the charity's corporate volunteering programme, says: “With corporate volunteers we offer the opportunity for a group of employees to come here and do a number of tasks. Often companies will give their staff one or two days of volunteering time in a year.

“They might want team-building. This year we had a request from a company where staff had asked managers to come here so they could learn how to welcome people with a disability, in the workplace.”