Aria Court Care Home Win the Inaugural Athena in Bloom Gardening Competition
The team and residents at Aria Court Care Home, in March, Cambridgeshire, are celebrating after winning Athena Care Homes’ inaugural gardening competition!
Athena in Bloom was launched this year to help give green fingered residents the opportunity to keep up their passions, to help develop links with local community groups and to ensure that Athena Care Home’s gardens are beautiful, welcoming places to catch up with loved ones.
Aria Court had a bumper return as the home took the prize in 5 of the 12 categories on offer and scooped the award for the overall winner!
Successes came in the Best Wildlife Conservation Project, Best Gardening Club, Best Dementia Involvement, Innovation in Care and Bringing the Outside In categories.
The Best Wildlife Conservation Project was judged by wildlife presenter, Ajay Tegala, who said Aria Court’s efforts rearing butterflies to release into their newly created Wildflower meadow was a reflection of the, “variety of things achieved and the ambitions for further development in the future… As well as the wildflower meadow, I love the orchard – the fact that is being managed with insects in mind and also to inspire residents’ past memories is fantastic.”
The judges commended Aria Court for the consistent progress across the home, fantastic local partnerships and the commitment of all the team and residents to improving their gardens. During our judging day there was so much passion for the projects they were working on from the residents and the team, it was a real joy to see. The living wall, pictured below, stole the show and is something the company is now looking to create for their other 4 care homes in East Anglia.
Aria Court’s Home Manager, Mav Feast, said,
“The past two years has been a labour of love, redeveloping gardens to generate an environment that is both sustainable and meets the holistic needs of our residents. It’s been a shared passion for the team; spreading far and wide through residents, relatives, team members and the wider community. We’ve worked with Tesco, FACET, Factory shop and many more members of the local community.”
He continued, “I am immensely proud of the contribution all stake holders have made and continue to make on the transformation the home has taken. None of this could be possible without the support of every single person; whether it be donations of seeds for the wild gardens, support to upcycle marble for our new bar in our very own ‘break away’ area. I cherish deeply the commitment and hard work of our team and this award is richly deserved by our residents and team.”
