New planting challenge for Southport new leaf service users.
A Southport garden centre that enables people with disability or age-related conditions to learn horticultural skills is expanding the scope of its activities, thanks to the home of the resort’s famous flower show.
Victoria Park Events has provided a number of new planting areas to the New Leaf Garden Centre – based at Park Lodge Greenhouses on Rotten Row – which is run by Sefton’s leading adult social care provider, New Directions.
And following the creation of a series of raised beds at the park, service users began the job of planting out the new areas this week.
Now they’re hoping for bumper crops of fruit and vegetables including sweetcorn, broccoli, courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, swedes, tomatoes and herbs later in the year, which will be given away free to park users.
Around 40 New Directions clients from across Sefton regularly join sessions at New Leaf where they learn a range of useful life and work skills, from planting and designing hanging baskets in the greenhouses to retail and customer service skills in the shop on site.
With the support of tutors from St Helens College, they can also work towards a City & Guilds qualification in horticulture.
New Directions Business Development Manager, Dave Hughes, commented: “We’re very grateful to Victoria Park Events for providing this new resource which will enable us to develop the range of opportunities we offer at New Leaf.
“We hope it will also help to raise awareness of our garden centre which is open to the public and currently offering a wide range of high-quality hanging baskets, plants, shrubs, perennials and pot plants which service users have helped to create.”
New Directions was established in Sefton in 2007 as the first local authority social care trading company in the country.
Ten years on, the organisation remains at the forefront of the local care sector, with a team of more than 300 staff caring for older Sefton residents, or people with disabilities or mental health support needs.
For more information about the services offered by New Directions, or to find out about joining the team, ring 0151 934 3726 or visit www.ndirections.co.uk.
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