Residents at Old Station House are waking up to new gardens since a ‘Garden Rescue’ style volunteer day by Bio-Techne teams. Thirteen employees from the Abingdon office contributed their time and efforts to transform two gardens at the town centre care home run by The Trust.

The life sciences company also donated planters, furniture, sensory plants and hanging baskets to the street side courtyard garden and the enclosed back garden. The latter has a small pond and the team from Bio-Techne added a small water feature so that residents and employees can enjoy the sound of trickling water.

The transformation came about after a chance meeting between Joanna Sparkes, Bio-Techne CRM Advisor, and Kelly Marie Allen, Head of Care at the home. Joanna was looking for projects for Bio-Techne’s Volunteer Week in July and saw the opportunity to help improve the gardens.

Kelly Marie said: “We are overjoyed that Bio-Techne chose to visit us for their volunteer project, and we are very grateful to everyone who took part and the company for their kind donations. Our outdoor spaces support mental wellbeing, and our residents are delighted with the garden transformations. We also hope to win the Trust-wide annual garden competition Trust in Bloom.”

Resident Linda said: “I love to be outside sitting in the garden and also going for walks. It was wonderful to meet the volunteers and see the gardens being spruced up.”

Kiran, who works in the finance team at Bio-Techne, said: “I’ve really enjoyed this team day, spending time with colleagues from different departments and working together to make the space extra special and enjoyable for residents in the home. We picked a ‘bright and colourful’ theme with the plants and garden furniture we’ve donated, and we hope this will encourage residents to spend more time in these outdoor spaces.”

Another resident Joan said: “I am looking forward to using the garden and sitting there with my family when they visit.”