busy, busy, busy!

It's been a busy few weeks in the project.  This is what we've been up to since our last blog:

We've finally started to plant out the beds in the courtyard garden.  We began with a planting session for the local school students who have been involved for the past 2 years.  As well as planting Heucheras in one bed, they decorated large pots and filled them with a whole range of plants including Osteospermums, Begonias, Wallflowers and Stock.  These pots and plants mark the introduction of colour, texture and height in the garden which will be joined by many others as the beds are prepared and planted over the coming weeks.  We will also be adding stand alone raised planters but we won't be planting those - they're for the residents to use for their own gardening interests.

budding artists add colour and memories to the garden

Trevarna staff hosted a summer fete in early August and were joined by young people from The House (a local youth centre). The young people baked cakes beforehand and sold them on their own stall to help the home raise funds. This is a new partnership that my colleague Ellie has developed over the past few months. These young people will take responsibility for looking after an old, underused vegetable plot at Trevarna, where they will grow vegetables to use in collaborative projects with the home.

half an hour later this table was empty!

I've been out around the county visiting more Cornwall Care homes (that's 11 in total now) and chatting with managers and staff about the current and potential use of their outdoor spaces; particularly in the role of engaging residents with the community.  Once the visits are completed in September I'll prepare a report for Cornwall Care which will go to each care home with recommendations on how to use their gardens to engage more with the community.

Trips to garden centres and nurseries are more frequent now that we're into the phrase of purchasing plants for the garden at Trevarna. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it! Several plants have now joined the Heucheras that the local students planted in the prepared bed.  It's beginning to feel like a garden again after so much time spent on the hard landscaping. Which, by the way, is just about finished in the courtyard and work has started in earnest in the front garden, where most of the community events will take place.

planting begins in the courtyard

one point of access up to the garden wall

On August 19th and 20th we held two dementia awareness workshops, with our partners Cornwall Care, for people in the community.  We'll be preparing a report on these workshops soon so I won't go into too much detail for now. The first workshop was for local businesses and service providers whilst the second was aimed at home carers.  Both were extremely fun to do and, looking at the feedback forms, very successful.  One lady emailed us after with this comment:

Please thank everyone for such a great morning last Saturday – it was the best event for information and ideas that we have been to around the issues of dementia care.  Mum and I enjoyed it very much and are so glad we came. Many thanks; we look forward to the next one.

When people take the time to send such a lovely message; it spurs us on to do greater things.

With that in mind, I would like to say "Thank you" to all those people who have been downloading our dementia activity and fact sheets through the Creative Spaces page on our website.  We're delighted that you are interested in using the sheets; it's a sign that we're not only providing the right information but confirms that there is a real need for supportive techniques such as these in dementia care. We hope you enjoy them and we'd be delighted to hear from anyone who has used any of the activities; let us know if using them has had any impact on yourself as well as others. Now go - do greater things!

engage people using scrap books, nature palettes & fortune-tellers 

Wendy Brewin
Creative Spaces Project Manager