We’re celebrating the National Housing Federation’s Starts at Home campaign this month. It’s a chance to celebrate the positive impact supported housing has on our communities. So, we wanted to take the opportunity to shine a spotlight on a recent project at our Rodber Gardens Independent Living Scheme in Wincanton.
As part of our commitment to empower lives and create thriving communities, it’s also important that we provide accommodation that is fit for individual needs.
After consulting with our residents at Rodber Gardens, we were able to use the Abri Social Value Fund to provide a patio area in the garden, improving accessibility and making room for a large table and chairs with support arms. We also added two benches providing level access from the rear of the garden as well as more seating.
To bring some colour to the area, we also installed raised garden containers, sourced through the Local Men in Sheds (a few which are actually our customers). So that they could enjoy planting the flowers themselves, the residents asked for the containers to be a certain height – something we were pleased to be able to do for them.
As well as all of this, we created a quiet area and installed safety rails so that our customers can confidently move around the space.
To celebrate, we invited residents to join some of our colleagues for afternoon tea in the garden. Here’s what they had to say:
“The work carried out has made the garden a great place to socialise and to be able to invite family and friends over in the warmer months to entertain.”
“I help to arrange social activities at the scheme and the re-vamped garden offers an additional space for us to be able to hold Summer get togethers”