Inter-generational Gardening
Friends of Downland Court recently received a grant for an inter-generational gardening project from the Postcode Local Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Research has found that multi-generational projects can be hugely beneficial and enjoyable to all parties
Visits can improve the children’s language and communication skills, and most youngsters love hearing stories from the older residents, who have time to listen and chat. Increased social interaction also gives important health benefits for older people, and may even help stave off dementia and other physical conditions.
Grant Awarded
Downlands Court in Peacehaven is a complex of retirement apartments for rental and part ownership.
The Friends of Downlands Court charity was founded in 2010 to provide activities for residents of the 41 apartments of the retirement/independent living housing scheme and the wider community.
The grant for an inter-generational gardening project from the Postcode Local Trust, will make a huge difference to the residents and other participants.
Chairman of Friends of Downlands Court, Mike Noble, said “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding which will enable us to upgrade our community garden and work in conjunction with other local outdoor activity groups and providers. We are also grateful to Paula and Donna from the Havens Community Hub who assisted us with the bid.”
Steven Dennis, Chief Executive of Saxon Weald, who manage the building, echoed these sentiments; “We’re thrilled that Friends of Downlands Court has received this award. Inter-generational projects benefit both our residents and the young people involved so much. It’s great to get this support, the money will make a big difference.”
Havens Community Hub
At the next Greenhavens meeting, one of our speakers will be Dawn Norman from Haven’s Community Hub. The Hub Provides support, resources and partnership working opportunities to community organisations and residents of the area known as the ‘Havens’ and surrounding towns and villages in East Sussex.
This includes offering volunteer opportunities, providing a learning partnership for charity, group and individual leaders for support, mutual learning and development. It also works closely with other organisations, that the HCH beneficaries would benefit from.
The community hub provides crucial support to local community groups, as this testimonial shows.
“The Havens Community Hub is providing us with valuable help – they really take time to understand our aims and objectives, and their support is tailor-made. They are so encouraging and full of achievable ideas. The committee of Friends of Downlands Court would like to say a very big thank you for the help given to date.”
Greenhavens look forward working with the Friends of Downland Court and local residents, on this fun and exciting project.
Seaford Community Garden
A similar project was successfully completed in the Summer at Seaford Community Garden. This project aimed to get older people to share their skills and knowledge with younger children, to inspire them to get into growing. This project was initiated by Min Stone, East Sussex County Council, Locality Link Worker. Hannah from SCDA gave the volunteers training and support until they were confident enough to plan and run the sessions themselves. If you would like to know more about setting up a project like this, and the support available, do get in touch with Greenhavens who can point you in the right direction.
