Meet our gardeners…
Today we want to invite you to learn a little more about our incredible volunteers who help Primrose Hospice & Family Support Centre provide tailored care and support to over 1,000 patients and families every single year.
We simply wouldn’t be able to provide our range of support without our ‘Primrose People’, including each and every volunteer who gives their time freely to help others.
Below you can hear from some of our volunteer gardeners who visit Primrose Hospice every Tuesday rain or shine to ensure the Primrose garden is kept looking spick and span for our patients, clients, staff and volunteers to enjoy.
Our volunteer gardeners choose to volunteer for Primrose Hospice for several reasons. They said they find that volunteering helps to combat
loneliness and boredom, while also aiding their mental and physical well-being. Some are retired and were looking for inspirational and meaningful ways to spend their time. Additionally, they enjoy being around nature and find pleasure in observing the many different types of wildlife in the garden.
Here at Primrose Hospice we often utilise the garden to extend the environment where we can deliver our support. Recently one of our clients who was due to receive counselling said: “Added to the warm welcome from everyone the walk around the garden was exhilarating. It was so lovely, and so well cared for with everything looking beautiful. What was so striking was the quiet tranquillity which soothed my jangled nerves.”
In addition to supporting patients and clients in our garden, we deliver regular ‘Explorations’ groups where we support Children and Young People when they know someone with a life-limiting illness or are bereaved. This group is held in our gardens throughout the year and Jenni our Children & Young People’s Practitioner Team Lead said: “We absolutely could not praise our gardeners more. They are so dedicated and turn up come rain or shine. Nothing is too much for them and they have helped us so much over the years to create a beautiful calming place for the children we support to visit.
They have created feature gardens outside our rainbow room, a rainbow border and multiple bug houses. They have found light up eyes and spines for Godwald our garden dragon and have created the most spectacular forest school area, including a fire pit and logs for us to sit on. Any project we come up with they make it happen and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Millie said: “I can remember one morning everyone was busy calmly and quietly involved in their work when mayhem broke out. A lorry load of sheep had arrived at the neighbouring farm and the usual sheep dog was not available to ‘shepherd’ them into the farm. When the lorry doors were open the sheep charged down the road and into the hospice garden! They raced in all directions and the hospice staff and volunteers all had to help herd them back to the farm. Surprisingly no damage was done and calm was quickly restored. It all felt like a dream!”
Linda said: “One Christmas the children we support were delighted to see that two reindeer had visited and in true Christmas spirit they left ‘presents’ which the gardeners cleaned up – that was certainly a first for us!”
We enjoy a sense of satisfaction from giving something back, as some of the gardeners have either used our support services themselves or know people who have – it makes them feel like they are supporting the hospice.
They enjoy the companionship and support that has grown from the group, it gives them an opportunity to share their gardening knowledge and learn from each other.
It gives them great satisfaction knowing the pleasure the garden brings to staff and patients during difficult times.
Angelique our Chief Operating Officer said: “The Garden is my sanctuary. Whenever I am dealing with difficult things, I take five minutes to walk or sit in the garden. The beautiful surroundings help me to clear my head and face the day’s challenges. This would not be possible without the incredible efforts of the volunteer gardening team; I am truly grateful to them all!”
