Edwardstow Court, Stow on the Wold, welcomed a group of Network Rail and Mitie employees to their home for a volunteer day to clear up their gardens ahead of the annual gardening competition, Trust in Bloom. The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT), which manages Edwardstow Court, runs Trust in Bloom so that its care homes can showcase their gardens and gardening endeavours in a bid to win one of several categories or become overall Trust in Bloom winner. This year, Edwardstow Court will compete against 55 OSJCT homes.

The volunteer day was organised by one of Edwardstow Court’s long-standing volunteers, Kath Finch, with help from her cousin Amanda Holland who works for Network Rail and invited colleagues to take part. Network Rail encourages its workforce to volunteer for charities all over the country and gives each employee up to five paid days for volunteering each year. Amanda also persuaded employees from Mitie, a Network Rail landscaping contractor, to join in.

The volunteer day took place in April with nine Network Rail employees and two Mitie employees. They came from far and wide, many travelling by train, from locations including Reading, Southampton, Bristol, and Devon. Kath and Amanda met the volunteers at Kingham station. 

As well as providing people power, Network Rail donated topsoil, seeds, and bulbs. Kath brought woodland plants from her garden and plant donations from local villagers.

The team of Network Rail volunteers de-weeded the gardening beds in the car park and planted wildflower seeds. They also de-weeded raised beds and vegetable gardens and prepared hanging baskets with new compost ready for residents to plant. As the gardening expert on the day, Kath made sure that everyone knew which plants to keep, and which weeds to get rid of.

Volunteers from Mitie trimmed and cleared overgrown areas in Edwardstow Court’s Woodland Walk, in the wood next to the home. Network Rail volunteers added plants to the Woodland Walk. The Walk has a tarmac path designed for residents and local people. Now that the overgrowth has been clear the home plan to introduce more woodland flowers and create a ‘tick sheet’ so that residents and locals from our community can use it to spot and log natural features during their walk.

The care home’s kitchen team provided volunteers with a lovely buffet lunch to keep energy levels high.

Marion Woods, Edwardstow Court’s Activities and Wellbeing Co-ordinator, encouraged residents into the garden to see what was going on. They really enjoyed seeing younger people working in the garden and took the opportunity to chat with them and, in some cases, offer guidance as to how they could do it better! Three residents put on gloves and joined in with clearing the raised beds and topping up the soil.

Marion said: “We are very grateful to all the volunteers for their time and hard work in the gardens. They shared that it was a great day and one of the highlights was interacting with residents and understanding that living with dementia can still provide fun, laughter, happiness, and quality of life.”

During the final 30 minutes of the day, volunteers rushed around like a TV makeover show team, they hurried to finish off the planting, sweeping, and collecting tools, all in time to catch pre-booked trains. Volunteers left with muscles they did not know they had and feeling tired, in a good way. Another volunteer gardening day is planned for September, as the volunteers said that they would love to return, and the intention is to make raised beds accessible for wheelchair users in the vegetable gardens.

Over the next few weeks, residents, team members and volunteers will be working hard in the care home’s garden grounds, as they prepare their entries for Trust in Bloom. Edwardstow Court has entered the Hanging Baskets, Miniature Garden, Wildlife Garden and Overall Garden Grounds categories. 

Read what the volunteers said about the day:

Harriet said: "It had such a positive effect on me, the team at the home were so welcoming and helpful. It really made me feel good to spend the day outside with old and new friends achieving a goal together that I knew people at the care home would enjoy, and their families.”

Shayla said: "I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to give something back to the community. It was a lovely feeling knowing that I was doing something that would give others enjoyment in the months to come. All the staff were fantastic and looked after us so well making sure we had drinks and providing a fabulous lunch. It was nice to spend the day outside working as a team and getting to know others.”

David said: "I had a wonderful time volunteering at Edwardstow Court. It was lovely to get out of my workplace and do something different for the day. The staff were lovely and welcoming, and it was great to meet some of the residents, so we could see our work was making a difference to them. Would highly recommend it to anyone thinking about volunteering."

Sam said: “Our day volunteering at Edwardstow Court was both enjoyable and productive. Through completing work in various parts of the grounds, we were able to tidy up and improve the aesthetic for the residents to enjoy. It was a nice feeling to be able to contribute to the enjoyment of residents through our work, and I would definitely recommend it and seek similar opportunities in future.”

Kelly said: “I had a great day volunteering at the Stow on the Wold care home as part of my Network Rail volunteering. It was nice to feel that you are giving back and potentially making, albeit a very small, impact which will help benefit the lovely staff and residents. From a personal point of view, I also enjoyed being in a different environment from my usual desk job and meeting other members of Network Rail. We all worked hard and also had a lot of laughs and I would definitely look forward to going again, if the opportunity came about. The staff were so kind and friendly and even supplied lunch for us, which was a caring touch.”

Volunteering opportunities

Would you like to make a positive difference to one of our resident communities by taking part in an OSJCT volunteer day? If so, please contact our Volunteering Team at volunteer@osjct.co.uk to find out what opportunities we have available.