Gardening at Parkhaven, for people with dementia
Despite the credit crunch and the depressing news that is hitting us daily, there is good news. Recently the Trust was awarded a grant to help people keep gardening.
Three days a week, Parkhaven’s gardeners Keren and Richard work with service users in the gardens around the Willow Day Centre and at The Haven, our plot a hundred yards away, where there are nice greenhouses, raised beds, an orchard, doves, chickens and geese. We sow seeds, take cuttings, pot on, plant up our beds, fill hanging baskets, pick flowers and vegetables, feed the chickens. Come and look round!
Gardening can really help people with dementia: it keeps you fit, it’s good to be outside, contact with nature and the seasons inspires hope, and the planning and sequencing skills involved in gardening seem to be particularly effective in preserving mental agility. The grand name for this is ‘horticultural therapy’.
Gardening can really help people with dementia: it keeps you fit, it’s good to be outside, contact with nature and the seasons inspires hope, and the planning and sequencing skills involved in gardening seem to be particularly effective in preserving mental agility. The grand name for this is ‘horticultural therapy’.
We have recently been awarded a grant of £95,000 from the Henry Smith Charity to develop the work we do at The Willow, so that anyone with dementia living in the community can garden for a few hours with us at Parkhaven. Carers can come too, or might enjoy a well-earned break instead.
We will also be helping people with dementia look after their own gardens: they get some exercise (but we do the heavy work), they feel good about their garden, they get some company. We hope it might help some people with dementia stay in their homes for longer. We’re not doing people’s gardens for them, we’re gardening with them.
We’re calling the project ‘Keep gardening’. We will shortly be appointing a new gardener James, who’ll soon be out and about in gardens in the local community with the Parkhaven trailer. The grant allows us to offer a free service for two years.
If you know someone who might be interested in any of these activities, as a service user or as a volunteer, contact a member of the Willow staff or Richard on 0151-527 3667 or richard.ayres@parkhaven.org.uk.
We will also be helping people with dementia look after their own gardens: they get some exercise (but we do the heavy work), they feel good about their garden, they get some company. We hope it might help some people with dementia stay in their homes for longer. We’re not doing people’s gardens for them, we’re gardening with them.
We’re calling the project ‘Keep gardening’. We will shortly be appointing a new gardener James, who’ll soon be out and about in gardens in the local community with the Parkhaven trailer. The grant allows us to offer a free service for two years.
If you know someone who might be interested in any of these activities, as a service user or as a volunteer, contact a member of the Willow staff or Richard on 0151-527 3667 or richard.ayres@parkhaven.org.uk.
So keep gardening, it can make you feel good.
