Residents at Warwick House Care Home are enjoying a beautiful new garden following a makeover by the Derby County Community Trust’s NCS Programme; supported by Derby Homes, Derby County Football Club and Wickes.
The new gardens were shown off in their full glory at an open day on Sunday 24th September and Derby County’s mascot, Rammie, also made an appearance to the delight of residents and visitors.
Warwick House is a respite centre which provides short break services for adults with profound and complex learning disabilities, autism and behaviours of concern.
The NCS programme provides 16 and 17 year olds from across Derby with the opportunity to use their summer break to experience adventure, discover new skills and deliver a social action project in the local community.
Ahead of the summer, the building at Warwick House had a very large grass area with little accessibility or use for residents due to the range of disabilities. A renovation project was needed however with little time or funds; staff had been unable to see to it.
Many residents of the care home have little access to the wider community due to their disabilities so a garden that is interesting, safe and can be used for activities would enhance their stay and have a huge impact on wellbeing and peace of mind for parents and carers.
A total of four NCS groups worked with Warwick House as a social action project during the summer, each with a desire to revamp and transform the area into a new garden for residents. The groups took over fundraising, planning, manual work and called on support from local and national organisations for the revamp.
Plants and materials were donated and time was volunteered by local residents and businesses to make sure the project was a success.
Donations included:
The voucher from Derby County and Wickes came as part of Wickes’ role as the Official DIY partner of the EFL.
As part of the Wickes Affinity Scheme, they donate a voucher to each EFL club to use to support a local community project – and Derby opted to utilise theirs on the Warwick House project.
Following months of work, Warwick House now have a sensory garden with accessible paths, a secret garden area, decorated fences, plants, a ferris wheel display and plenty of space for residents to sit and enjoy the area.
At the official opening, Michelle Payne Manager at Warwick House, said: “The work that has taken place has exceeded the expectations of everyone at Warwick House and this is down to the hard work and commitment of the NCS project.
“Each week the teams came to Warwick House and worked so very hard in planning, fundraising and then working on the garden. This means that the young adults that had never been able to access the garden now can and the smiles and squeals of delight make it all worthwhile.
“I cannot thank the NCS project and all the teams enough for what they have done for the young adults; it truly is life changing and they should all be so very proud of what they have achieved.”