Community sensory garden

Tapestry is running a Garden Appeal to help raise money towards creating a Community Sensory Garden that will be dementia friendly. The garden will be designed to stimulate the senses and evoke memories and will be situated within Tapestry’s Community Hub in Hornchurch.

The garden will be more than just a beautiful outdoor space, it will be created and planned with features to make it especially appealing to older adults and those living with dementia. Containing sensory areas with objects and scents that evoke memories of day’s gone by; such as mint, lavender, roses and grass; we hope it will be an enjoyable experience for everyone.

Our plans include a private seating area where people can relax and have some personal space for reflection and privacy. This area will be essential for some of the people we care for living with dementia and can to be used as a calming space if they become restless or agitated.

We are hoping a well planned space will also provide opportunities for people to exercise, this in turn allows people to relieve tension, frustration and aggression. Again this can be very important release for people living with dementia, who may feel the need to keep moving, get restless easily or who like/need to wander.

Many older people and those living with dementia have built up a lot of knowledge and experience about gardening. The garden will be designed to allow everyone to contribute to garden maintenance; planting flowers; growing fresh produce; picking fruit, vegetables and herbs; and even discussing with our Head Chef what could be included in our lunch menus.

Reminiscence themes and activities can provide opportunities for social interaction around shared experiences and creative memory-making brings memories back to life and this what we hope to achieve with this project.

Studies have shown that Reminiscence as a therapy can:

Improve communication
Improve well being
Improve self-care
Improve mood
Provide an enjoyable social activity
Provide an enjoyable social activity

Find out how you can get involved today by visiting our Garden Appeal page.

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Tapestry Launch series of events to celebrate 75 years of service to Havering

At Tapestry we have been helping older people in the local area since 1949. We believe that every adult deserves the opportunity to live healthy, connected lives regardless of age or ability.