Volunteers from a local church have refurbished and replanted a garden at Bath charity RICE, the Research Institute for the Care of Older People.
The team who gave the RICE garden a much-needed makeover | Photo © RICE
Earlier this month, a team of fifteen people from the St Francis Church in Keynsham took part in the garden makeover.
Since 2015, RICE has been providing support to St Francis church member Les Herbert, who has dementia.
The church was also helped on the day by members of the RICE team including RICE’s CEO, Melissa Hillier, trustee, Sarah James and nurse, Marianne Roots.
The aim of the garden refurbishment was to improve an overgrown space to make it a more spacious and attractive relaxation space for patients, families and staff to enjoy.
During the day an old path was discovered that had been covered with ivy and over ten bags of overgrowth were removed.
The volunteers dug the borders and then planted a mixture of new, colourful plants and bulbs to encourage flowering at different times of the year and refreshed the paint on the garden furniture.
Based at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, RICE is an internationally recognised research institute, treatment centre and memory clinic dedicated to improving quality of life for older people through its research and support for people with dementia, their families and carers.
As well as researching treatments for dementia, RICE hosts the NHS Memory Clinic for Bath and North East Somerset. To date, the Memory Clinic are proud to have cared for over 12,000 local people with memory problems and supported their families.
Anika Gardiner, vicar of St Francis Church said: “We have heard a lot about the RICE Centre from Margaret and Les Herbert who have been supported and the valuable work they do in researching and improving the lives of people with dementia.
“As a church we wanted to do something practical to help the centre that would involve our congregation. Despite being hard work it was great day for our team and to see the difference we could make.”
Melissa Hillier, Chief Executive Officer for RICE added: “Our charity supports patients and families impacted by dementia, through our clinical diagnosis service, our research into dementia and our support courses for patients and families.
“We rely on the support of volunteers to keep our centre going so we are grateful to the members of St Francis Church for donating their time to revamp our garden.
“The work has transformed the garden which is used daily by our patients, carers and staff for meetings, groups and as a place of relaxation. We can now make full use of this outdoor space and I’m sure our patients will greatly enjoy the beautifully planted borders and brightly painted garden furniture.”
Margret Herbert from Keynsham said: “I was really touched and delighted that the members of our church have so generously transformed the RICE Centre’s garden in recognition of the wonderful support the Centre has given to my husband, Les, who has dementia.
“Les has served the church for many years and in many different roles including leading prayers, reading lessons, as a server at communion services and as a Lay Leader.
“Les and I first became involved with the RICE Centre in 2015 following his referral by our GP and have returned many times over the years for memory assessments and for Les to take part in a research study.
“We have always found their staff to be very helpful and caring. We are so grateful for their kind support, they feel like members of our family and we are happy to support their much-needed research into dementia treatment.
“I would highly recommend the RICE Centre to anyone who needs help with memory issues.”
