A project for young and old as a rainbow-themed garden made
SCOUTS JOIN FORCES WITH CARE HOME RESIDENTS
YOUNG and old worked together for a mutually-beneficial care home project.
Green-fingered residents at Mountview care home in Rothley were joined by Beaver Scouts from Mountsorrel to create a rainbow-themed NHS garden.
Youngsters aged between six and eight joined forces with the residents to create the eye-catching design, paying tribute to social care, NHS, and other healthcare staff who have worked at the forefront of the Covid19 pandemic.
It gave the elderly residents some quality time spent outdoors with the Beavers, providing useful gardening tips such as how to correctly plant flowers and bulbs in order to get the most blooms and how to maintain gardens with weed and pest maintenance techniques.
For their part, the children were able to gain achievement badges.
Resident Betty Allen said: “I have really enjoyed our garden visit from the Beaver Scouts, it is nice to see the clubs still exist as I have really fond memories from my days in the Scouts.
“I was pleased to see the lads doing some planting and weeding, leaving their print on our garden.
“I am really proud of them and they definitely deserved their new gardening achievement badges – well done to them all!”
A nearby garden centre, Debbie’s, in Rothley, gave the Mountview team free rein as they gifted over 30 punnets of hyacinths, pansies and tulips, in a multitude of colours, to fit the theme.
The home also received many packets of sunflower seeds to grow over the summer.
The rainbow garden will be one of the centrepieces for the Mountview’s Gardens in Bloom competition entry, a contest across all Ideal care homes which encourages both staff and residents to work together to embrace their love of the great outdoors.
Scouts leader Alison Harris, who arranged the gardening club and presented the Beaver Scouts with their gardening achievement badges, said: “It has been wonderful watching our Beavers work together with the Mountview residents to create such a lovely tribute garden.
“It has been a really long time since we were able to take on new badge work, so it was all the more special to have the residents cheer on our Beavers as we handed out everyone’s gardening badges.”
Mountview manager Stacie Weaver said: “Receiving a visit from the Beaver Scouts has been a real high point for us all.
“They have such a wonderful ‘can do’ attitude and it really showed in the work they did in our garden.
“Since their visit, we have had super feedback on our NHS themed flower patch and I look forward to presenting it to our Ideal Gardens in Bloom judges and explaining how much fun we had putting it together!”