Volunteers help to restore Wigton Hospital Garden

8 Aug

The Northern Fells Group was asked to provide and co-ordinate volunteers to help with the Covid 19 vaccination programme for the Keswick & Solway Primary Care Network, which comprises 7 surgeries. This assistance was provided at Wigton Hospital over a period of 16 months. At an event, which celebrated the work done by the volunteers and NHS teams, the Northern Fells Group was approached by Hazel Stewart, the Wellbeing Activator for Keswick & Solway ICC . She asked if the volunteers could help turn around a courtyard garden at Wigton Hospital, that needed some TLC.

After clearing the site the team are now in the build stage, so a picnic table has been brought to the site and will be amended for wheelchair users. The existing flower bed has been tidied up and a new raised bed is in the process of being built. Where possible the materials used have been re-purposed. A garden storage shed, fated to go to the tip, has been restored by Men in Sheds Caldbeck, who also made window boxes out of reclaimed pallet wood.

Once the garden is in good order it will be used as a place where patients and staff can sit outside, but also be an ongoing project, with certain patients helping to maintain the garden. It is well known that being in a garden, and the activity of working with plants, is therapeutic, being beneficial in helping people with various health issues, in particular mental health issues. There are various elements in the garden which need some attention. The garden already has one raised bed for flowers. This is made of railway sleepers and our volunteers are refurbishing it. A second raised bed is being built from scratch. This will have sensory plants in it, suitable for helping visually impaired patients and providing people with other sensory disorders a focus via touch, scent , colour & texture. Each raised bed will be accessible to wheelchair users.

We had a very small budget for this project, so many thanks for all the support we have received, either financially or in materials, to enable us to complete it.

We have been helped by the following: Caldbeck Surgery Charitable fund, J Stobart and Sons, Lloyds Carpets Wigton and individual donations. If anyone reading this has any perennial plants they are willing to donate please get in touch with Simon. Drought tolerant plants, trailing plants for the window boxes or anything with a great scent would be appreciated.

After 2 work sessions one in the rain the other in the hot sun the bed was completed and the top soil loaded in. The final jobs were then done such as painting the window boxes and sanding down the wooden garden furniture. The Raised bed was then planted up