A sensory garden has been created outside Wynyard Woods Care Home to improve the outlook from rooms and give residents and wildlife a refuge.  The Wynyard residents, who volunteered on this project, were approached by Janice McColm, Rural Development Manager with Tees Valley Rural Action (TVRA), to tell residents about an intergenerational project called “Our Community Matters”.  TVRA is working in partnership with Youth Focus: North East on a project that is aimed at working with individuals aged 13 – 25 and 50+ to tackle loneliness and isolation through the delivery of local challenges.

The project offered people the opportunity to co-produce an intergenerational event, activity or campaign over 5 weeks in their local community to tackle isolation and loneliness using the 5 ways to well-being as the basis of the project and they are; connect, give, keep learning, be active and take notice.   Each group is given a budget of £500 from the National Lottery Community Fund and the project challenge aims to reach 100 people.

The team is made up of volunteers from the Care Home and other Wynyard residents who have built, painted and planted three raised planters for the use of the Care Home residents. One planter is on long legs to enable wheelchair users to work on the it.  The planters have been planted with annuals and herbs, which will be used in the Care Home kitchen.  This constituted the National Lottery Community Fund money.

In addition, there is a small corner garden that has been cleared of sad shrubs by Wynyard Estate Services and dug over by a team of volunteers of all ages.  The corner garden design was agreed in Spring 2019 and the path was laid in mid July 2019.

The garden is being created by Wynyard residents for the benefit of all Wynyard residents.

We celebrated with a launch day for the community on 7th August 2019.

Well done everyone involved