- Do you look after someone who has dementia but who is in their 40s or 50s?
- Do you think they would like to join a weekly Gardening Club and help our research?
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the Alzheimer’s Society and Thrive are working together to set up two gardening groups in our area for physically active people with dementia as part of a research project.
Where will the gardening be held?
Half-day weekly gardening sessions (from 10–12.30am) will be held for 12 months starting in April 2009 for two groups of up to 8 people with young onset dementia.
One group will meet in the garden at:
- Barkham Day Hospital (in Wokingham Community Hospital) RG41 2RE on Monday mornings. Free transport to Barkham Day Hospital is available to people living in Wokingham Borough.
The other group will meet at:
- Trunkwell garden project in Beech Hill, RG7 2AT, on Friday mornings. We are exploring possible transport arrangements for people outside Wokingham, but in the meantime, we will have to ask family carers to arrange transport to and from sessions each week.
What will people do at the sessions?
People who come and garden will be invited to do a range of gardening activities including sowing seeds, planting containers with plug plants, looking after a vegetable area, growing flowers and harvesting produce (as well as weeding and generally keeping the garden tidy). Each session will start with a group get-together and chat – over a cup of tea – to agree who wants to do what and to catch up on each others’ news, and will finish with another brief group meeting to find out what everyone has been doing.
What else (research)?
We want to find out what family carers and participants think about the gardening club so that we can tell other support groups and professionals about it. We shall be monitoring the different garden activities, and we will be keen to talk to everyone about their views as we go along.
How can I find out more?
If you want to put your name on the waiting list, please phone Sue Tabor or Liz Pawsey at Thrive on 0118 988 4844