On Wednesday 16th July a cohort of Volunteers came together to support Laura McCarthy, Green Spaces Coordinator, in sprucing up the garden spaces at Abingdon Community Hospital. 

A very warm morning, an array of tools, paint, power washers and a team of energised people gave their time to give the outdoor spaces a much-needed facelift. 

Tidying the garden borders, painting the fences, power washing the patio areas and furniture and even re-felting the shed roof. This was an all hands on deck moment with so much achieved in just one morning. 

Abingdon Community Hospital is home to a beautiful outdoor space where patients, visitors and staff can enjoy time away from the wards. The Sensory Garden being a haven in the grounds, was due a refresh and this was a perfect opportunity for Laura to coordinate efforts from an array of willing Volunteers. 

Abingdon Community Hospital is fortunate to have a group of dedicated Green Spaces Volunteers who look after the garden spaces all year round. Dave, Lesley, Steph and Susan keep the area looking beautiful and were very grateful to the extended team for coming together to get some of the much-needed jobs done.

“I’ve been a Green Spaces Volunteer at Abingdon for about 4 years now. I love gardening and I thought this would be an ideal way to give something back to the NHS. What we do is much appreciated so it’s worth doing. Lots of people say thank you. It’s a social activity too as we often meet patients and staff which is nice. It would be great to have more help though – there’s a lot to do!”

 

Lesley Bosley,

Green Spaces Volunteer

“Thanks to everyone for sprucing it up. Gives us gardeners a lift to keep it going.”

 

Dave Evans,

Green Spaces Volunteer

“What a fantastic morning yesterday on the Abingdon Community Hospital site with the gardening team. It’s made such a difference and many of the staff have said today how much better things look, they especially like the fence painting!

I never expected this turnout, it’s wonderful! I think we’ll need another morning to finish it off! When others on the site see it they’ll want us in their areas too!””

 

Steve Cook,

Volunteer OSRU

Thank you to Steve for reaching out to Laura to suggest the gardens needed a refresh and together with Paul who are both highly valued Volunteers on OSRU, for joining the Green Spaces morning on Wednesday. They both know how important the garden area is for wards like OSRU and were more than happy to dedicate even more of their time to improve the garden area. 

“I was very pleased to participate in the green spaces volunteer morning. It was great to spend time with our Green Spaces Coordinator and a number of volunteers to work on green spaces at Abingdon Hospital. I also spent time with arts volunteers who were running a pottery session with patients and their families in the Oxfordshire Stroke Rehabilitation Unit (OSRU). It was great to see firsthand the crucial support that different volunteers offer to our Trust and the impact they have on patients, their families/carers and also on our staff.”  

Taff Gidi, Executive Director of Corporate Affairs 

Taff Gidi joined the Green Spaces morning. As well as fully embracing the hands-on jobs needing doing, Taff spent time meeting Oxford Health Volunteers and thanking them for their time and efforts supporting the organisation and seeing examples of projects funded and supported by Oxford Health Charity. 

"Thank you all so much for all your hard work, it really was a great morning!

 

It worked really well combining the corporate and community volunteer teams, it was lovely to see everyone chatting and supporting each other. Thank you to Aecom for supporting as corporate Volunteers and our regular gardening Volunteer team, Dave, Lesley and Steph…and new recruit Susan, thank you for your ongoing efforts."

 

Laura McCarthy,

Green Spaces Coordinator, Oxford Health Arts Partnership

As well as Green Spaces Volunteers, Laura coordinates corporate partnerships that support various sites across Oxford Health. 

The team from Aecom generously support Abingdon Community Hospital and joined together on Wednesday to help tackle the long list of jobs required. 

Joining the group were Michelle, Angela, Becky, James and Chris from the Oxford Health Charity team along with Charity fundraising Volunteer Rubab. 

Rubab would normally support Oxford Health Charity events in her role and really enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in the Green Spaces morning. This was a great opportunity for all of the amazing Oxford Health Volunteers to come together and meet each other whilst gifting their time. 

"It was a lovely morning on Wednesday and it was great for us to join together to help spruce the garden space up.

I really appreciated the opportunity to meet everyone in person and getting to know each other even more.  

Days like this can get so much achieved in one go, thank you Laura for organising and also inviting the Charity and Volunteer team along."

 

Becky Deane,

Interim Volunteer Programme Lead, Oxford Health Charity

"It was such a joy to be part of the Green Spaces morning at Abingdon Community Hospital. Seeing volunteers, colleagues and corporate partners working side by side to transform the garden was uplifting. These spaces mean so much to our patients and staff, and it’s moments like this that really show the difference our community can make". 

 

Michelle Evans,

Interim Head of Charity, Oxford Health Charity

Garden spaces are made beautiful thanks to the efforts of Laura McCarthy and her team of Volunteers and enhanced by Oxford Health Charity funding. You can donate to our Green Spaces appeal which supports projects such as these all year round.

https://www.oxfordhealth.charity/Appeal/green-spaces

If you or someone you know is interested in supporting as a Green Spaces Volunteer or would like to be involved in mornings like this one, please contact [email protected]