Horticulture enthusiasts at a Day Support Service in East Dumbartonshire are being encouraged to don their gardening gloves and get growing after being given allotment spaces by Hillhead Housing Association.

Bield’s Whitehill Court Day Care development is supporting its most green fingered service users and staff by participating in the growing spaces project in the Hillhead area.

The project, which is open to the local community as well as those as Whitehill Court, aims to benefit diverse groups in the area, such as people living with dementia and young school leavers, by encouraging them to bond together through gardening.

The project – which is enclosed in a private space to allow for various groups to work without being disrupted by the general public – aims to develop 11 raised flower beds, a community orchard, a polytunnel and picnic areas. The plot also has wheelchair accessible flower beds, a greenhouse and gardening huts.

Service users will receive gardening tools and seeds free of charge and are being encouraged to eat the healthy items that they have grown. So far, they have planted carrots and broad beans and built a trestle for sweet peas.

Maureen Hopkins, Resource Manager at Whitehill Court said: “We are very grateful to have the opportunity to access the growing spaces as it has enabled us to provide this great project for our service users, as well as others in the local community.

“Gardening has many benefits; as well as being a very therapeutic activity, the project will also provide social stimulation for our service users.

“They are thoroughly enjoying the growing spaces which are a definite talking point at Whitehill Court. The plot has wheelchair accessible flower beds, a greenhouse and gardening huts, so it is the perfect place for our service users to interact with the local community to get out and have fun.

“The project is a great addition to the local community. At Bield, we are constantly looking for ways that we can ensure service users are living life to the full and to live out our ‘Free to Be’ philosophy and so it is really great to see so many mixing and socialising whilst tending to the garden.’

Bield is a registered charity that came from humble beginnings, starting out with just one development in Bo’ness to become a major of a wide range of housing and services for around 20,000 older people across 23 local authority areas.

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