A moment on a bench

A recent addition to the courtyard garden at Trevarna is a beautiful, roofed bench.  It was bought with funds donated by the Firefighters Charity. Di Rees, from the charity's office in Devon, came to Trevarna at the beginning of the year, on the invite of a resident's daughter. We chatted about the project and she was shown the concept plan for the garden (the redevelopment hadn't started at that time).  It grabbed her interest and she was keen to explore how they could support the project through funding a feature or a piece of furniture for the garden. So why not both, we thought?  The lady whose daughter had introduced us  used to love sitting out in her garden and so the obvious choice was a seat that everyone could enjoy. We scouted around whilst the garden was being developed until this lovely seat caught our eye at the Trelawney Garden Centre. Having checked that the people at Trevarna loved it too, we hurried off to Trelawney to buy it where they kindly gave us such a great deal.  It now has pride of place in the courtyard.

Last week I had the opportunity of seeing the pleasure that it was providing.  I was out in the garden with Ernie and Lynn, dead-heading some of the plants and recording some of the conversation taking place. We'd been out for almost an hour and Ernie was getting tired so they sat on the seat for a rest. It was so lovely to see them just relaxing and enjoying being outside - on a surprisingly mild November day - it was a photo opportunity not to be missed.

Most of us are fortunate to remember the quality of a whole range of moments that we experience on any given day.  For people with dementia, it becomes increasingly difficult to string these moments together. Being able to provide moments of value is beneficial and has a positive impact on health and well-being. This bench will provide many such moments for  the residents, staff and visitors at Trevarna; moments of laughter, quiet contemplation, conversation, enjoyment and relaxation.

So a huge "Thank you" to Di Rees and the Firefighters Charity for their support; we hope you love the new garden bench.

  

Wendy
Project Manager