CARING FOR THE COMMUNITY

Garden centres can play a key role in their local community, and The Gardens Group is an exemplar of this

Staff at a doctor’s surgery in Cerne Abbas can now nd solace in the surgery’s courtyard. A new garden was created in e ory of the late r rai Wa eha who passed away fro in pril after leadin the practice for years. tuart e on a e er of the sur ery s atient upport roup led the transfor ation of the space into a uiet tran uil area for staff to rest and refl ect. or plants and ul s he reached out to he ardens roup whose store in ound ury orchester was cele ratin its th anni ersary that year and was see in co unity pro ects to assist with to cele rate. ounders i e ur s and his wife ouise were ore than happy to help. We didn t want to et in the way of the pro ect ut wanted to support it where er we could says i e. o arden desi ner n ela orley who we wor closely with went in and put to ether a desi n for the and then we supported the pro ect with the plants oin down there and settin the out. ather than a standalone pro ect the courtyard at erne as ur ery is ust one e a ple of how he ardens roup connects with its local co unity. ro

ardens roup for instance pro ided coffee ouchers to a local litter pic in roup. t also opened up one of its arden centres as a enue for the lac ore ale ine co unity rail partnership to host its oard eetin s. ouise has since eco e a ud e in the awards where they reco nise and reward the stations alon the railway line for how they are presented. he cere ony is then held at the arden centre too. f they d ha e had to hire a roo they would ha e incurred a cost which is ust unnecessary says i e. o it doesn t need to e hu e funds allocated to these pro ects it s al ost etter when it s not. Craig’s Courtyard is a planting project taking shape in memory of ou can ust e a catalyst to ena le the late Dr Craig Wakeham, who led the practice for 30 years before a pro ect to ta e place. passing away following a battle with COVID-19 in April 2020 t its astle ardens site openin up plants and ul s he reached out to he its three sites in her orne eo il and its three sites in her orne eo il and the arden centre as a enue for other ound ury the co pany reaches out for roups has pro ed ene cial in a nu er and is approached with arious ways in of ways. n what it calls he reen hed which it can lend a helpin hand to others. run y ricuro adults with learnin t s a cultural part of the or anisation. dif culties chop up waste ti er into ouise and funda entally elie e that if indlin the ost eautiful undles of you do your usiness in an area then you the ost perfect product says i e ha e a duty to support that co unity which he ardens roup uys fro the as part of your social responsi ility the and sells in its arden centre. Rather than a standalone project, the courtyard whole tea elie es in this. he tea really en oys ettin in ol ed so it s ood for the tea to or i e and ouise this is si ply the way to run a usiness and it s an i portant part of it. arden centres are part of at Cerne Abbas Surgery is just one example of feel that they ha e the power to e a le to o out and help the co unity and that they ha e the ac up of the co unity and this is the way he ardens roup li es it. ◗ how The Gardens Group connects with the or anisation to do that. t clearly uilds custo er loyalty too which eans we eco e its local community the third place . his co es fro the idea that people would ha e their safe places their ho e their wor and then the third place is the local arden centre where they feel an ownership and loyalty. t i es us resilience in tou h ti es the custo er ase will support the usiness ecause they now that we will support the co unity. hese pro ects don t ha e to The Green Shed at Castle Gardens, run by Tricuro, provides e lar e or costly either. he or o ort nities or a ts ith earning i fi c ties