Growing delight at garden’s progress
Work is continuing on a sensory garden designed for children with disabilities.
Construction work is taking place on the new garden at Caudwell House on Normanton Road, Southwell.
Caudwell House caters for children aged three to 19 from throughout Nottinghamshire, providing accommodation and short breaks for those with physical disabilities and associated learning difficulties.
Miss Jacqueline Walker (30) the assistant care manager, said the garden would be called Happy Memories Garden, in honour of children who used the home before their death.
Miss Walker said some of the children they catered for suffered from terminal illnesses such as muscular dystrophy, a genetic muscle disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and often has a low life expectancy.
Miss Walker said: “The idea to have a garden came from a request from a child who had lost his friend to the disease.
“We want the garden to be a place where children can have happy memories of those who have passed away while being at the home.”
The circular-shaped garden will include three water features, outdoor music speakers, luminous pathways that glow in the dark, and a story-telling chair.
It will also include a metal-framed Tree Of Life, which Miss Walker wants to be designed by a local artist.
The garden has been planned with the help of Newark and Sherwood District Council’s architect, Mrs Kathy Wimble, and is being built voluntarily by A. and V. Squires Plant Co Ltd of Southwell.
It will cost around £18,000 to build and has been paid for by a grant from Nottinghamshire County Council’s Building Better Communities scheme.
Miss Walker said: “We are pleased with the work that has been done so far and we are very grateful for the grant that we received.”
Southwell Rotary Club donated some money for flowers and shrubs.
Miss Walker hopes to hold a planting day, open to Rotary Club members and the public, so the community can have an input in creating the garden.
The garden is due to be completed in spring of next year.
