Swindon Saplings in the Community - our first visit to a local care home

As a group, Swindon Saplings wanted to be able to do more with others in the community. We decided to organise some visits to care homes and to build relationships with the residents. Yesterday, we had our first visit to Orchid Care Home in Swindon, which was a hit!We arrived to meet the residents who were joining us for the session that day, before heading out into the gardens. There were a number of raised beds that were currently dormant, so with the help of the residents, we cleared the beds of any leaves and weeds and started planting. We planted spring bulbs in one bed and winter-hardy flowers in the other which we were able to buy using the prize money from the JG Awards 2023, kindly donated by The Do Schools. The children, parents and residents all really enjoyed this task and although a little chilly, got stuck into creating what will be a really lovely area in the spring!

      

We then went inside to warm up with a cup of tea and biscuits whilst enjoying playing board games with the residents which everyone really enjoyed.

   

The home have said that they would love to continue working with our group. The home mentioned that they have been without a gardener this year so we are going to set up a regular gardening and social club in the new year where we can help to maintain their garden with them. The residents would love to see more birds in the garden, so we would like to create a little paradise for the wildlife to benefit from and the residents to enjoy.We are really looking forward to seeing the residents again in 2 weeks for our Christmas themed visit.Well done Saplings