Garden make-over

Project Summary

Aegis staff volunteered to revamp the gardens of the Community Day Centre for the elderly so that clients and staff would enjoy the gardens free from weeds, overgrown hedges and rubbish.

Project Details

The Community Centre ordinarily provides activities and care during the day for up to 15 elderly and frail people, many of whom suffer from dementia. The centre offers arts and crafts activities, day trips out across London, lunch, gentle fitness and even a salon! At the moment however another local group is also using the garden space at the Community Centre, as their own garden has been severely damaged by flooding. This means the Centre is catering for up to 30 people per day so having the flexibility of outside space during the summer was extremely important to them.

° The opportunity to do a hands-on and fun team excercise whilst making a practical and immediate difference to the community

° A lovely garden for clients and staff to enjoy the summer weather, free of rubbish weeds and hedges and with bright new plants and flowers

"I wanted to enjoy the experience but also really see the difference we had made in the time we had available and this was massively achieved. We had a great day, thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people and made a real difference to the space in which we were working."

Volunteer, Aegis

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Quotes

Centre Manager: “What a fantastic job the team did here yesterday. It’s turned from a wilderness into Buck House gardens (well, almost)!”

Volunteer: "I wanted to enjoy the experience but also really see the difference we had made in the time we had available and this was massively achieved. We had a great day, thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people and made a real difference to the space in which we were working."

Volunteer: "It has inspired me to do more outside of regular working hours which should in turn help broaden my experiences and make my contributions at work more valuable."