Green-fingered residents upgrade care home garden

Residents at a Cheadle care home have been leading the home’s outdoor activities to get the garden summer-ready. 

Members of the ‘Green Fingers Gardening Club’ at Care UK’s Abney Court, in Abney Hall Park, joined forces with care home team members to refurbish the garden shed and plant a host of flowers throughout the home’s gardens ahead of the summer months.

The garden project not only enabled residents to enjoy an outdoor activity but also to reminisce about the role gardening and the outdoors has played in their lives. 

 

Outdoor activities have many benefits for older people, especially those living with dementia, and the gardening club has been a hit among residents, including Margaret Wragg, aged 88. A lifelong fan of all things horticultural, her love of gardening started when she was younger, enjoying hands-on work in her family’s garden with her mother.  

After she married her husband Alan, whom she shared a passion of the outdoors with, she was able to leave the more physical tasks to him to focus on what she loves most – tending to her flowers, which she took great pride in. Reminiscing on these days, Margaret said: “We were a good team.”

Margaret said: “You need a lot of energy to be a good gardener, but I find container gardens easier to look after. I like the gardening club as I like being with other people who I have something in common with – and who I can learn from.” 

Home Manager at Abney Court, Andrew McIntyre, said: “Gardening is a firm favourite with residents. Our project to get the garden summer ready gave residents with green-fingered childhood or shared outdoor experiences with loved ones throughout the years a wonderful opportunity to reminisce.

“Gardening itself has many therapeutic benefits for older people, especially those living with dementia, encouraging physical activity and also time spent outdoors, which can help to lower stress and anxiety levels.  

“It was heart-warming to hear to all these fantastic stories from residents, including Margaret. She’s always on the go, and she has great advice to make the garden and its flowers look pristine – she has a great eye for detail too. We are looking forward to making the most out of our newly spruced-up garden in the coming months.”

Abney Court has been designed to deliver the very best standards of care and to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives. The home provides full-time residential, nursing and dementia care, as well as short-term respite care. The care home incorporates space for hobby and leisure activities and includes its own cinema, hair salon and café.

To find out more about Abney Court care home, email Pamela Wilson, customer relations manager at pamela.wilson@careuk.com or call 0161 660 5713.

For more general information about Abney Court, please visit careuk.com/abney-court.