Community – Ashmead Care Home Putney
July 2024 – Sensory Garden Planters
Putney Rotary is so pleased to have been able to donate funds to purchase two planters in the sensory garden of Ashmead Care Home.
In Western Society, we don’t seem to have the strong family bonds we could have, and perhaps should have… to care for our elderly.
But if someone’s mental health has deteriorated to the point where they cannot safely be looked after at home, it’s a very difficult decision to put your parent in the hands of strangers.
Thankfully, Ashmead is a care home near to Putney Heath, that is a safe space with 24/7 nursing and dementia care.
Unfortunately, some children cannot cope, and their parents have been dropped off and left for years without visitation – this is desperately sad, and one of the reasons why we chose to help Ashmead.
Being in nature and working in the garden has been shown to improve our mental and physical health. It’s wonderful to be able to work with our hands and feel the soil between our fingers.
The Challenge
Putney Rotary Club is is here for our community…for everyone. How do we help the wonderful elderly people in our community?
If we are fortunate enough, we will get old – hopefully ageing gracefully, in good physical and mental health… becoming more wise and at peace as we become who we were made to be.
Ashmead Care Centre Care home is located in Cortis Road. It specialises in the provision of nursing and dementia care.
Gill Feeley is a wonderful lady, a volunteer at Ashmead who’s mum spent happy years in the care centre. After she passed away, Gill wanted to help in any way she could, to give the residents a better life.
When Gill came to speak to Putney Rotary Club and told us of her commitment to making the lives of these lovely elderly people better, we wanted to help.
Gill came to us with the idea of purchasing planters for the residents to be able to grow herbs which could be used by their chef in the kitchen, and have the joy of growing some of their own food.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) “Surveying more than 6000 people the research showed a significant association between gardening more frequently and improvements in wellbeing, perceived stress and physical activity.”
If you’d like to be inspired, Gardener’s World is a wonderful resource on BBC iPlayer, with lots of tips and ideas on gardens both big and small.
The Solution
Putney Rotary member, Debs, who led the project, liaised with Gill to purchase the two planters and get the residents involved in doing some gardening, now that summer is here!
On the 9th July 2024, Putney Rotary Club went to the ribbon cutting ceremony, where one of the Ashmead residents did the honours of cutting the red bow. We were treated to time with the residents over a cup of tea and a piece of delicious cake.
Ashmead Care Home volunteer, Gill Feeley (RHS) and Putney Rotary President Debbie Wilckens 2023-2024
With special thanks to:
- Putney Rotarian, Debs, for co-ordinating the purchase of the planters and the plaques.
- Ashmead volunteer, Gillian Feeley for bringing this project to us, and enabling us to help.
Read about our Rotary charity, the Rotary Foundation, which reinvests specific club Funation donations and enables clubs like ours to leverage funding for our projects, both locally and abroad, and please donate if you can.
Our local Putney Santa collections in December help us fund initiatives like this, so THANK YOU for you for supporting your local community. We couldn’t do it without you.