Volunteers dig deep to help transform garden at Leamington day centre

Graham Barclay and Magda Gacek from Santander, with Cath Errington, fundraising manager for Heart of England Mencap, with the Santander volunteer team, Lorna Haynes and Joe Rolls from Mencap and Mencap customer Charlene Haywood

Last Thursday (June 7), a team from Santander spent the day working at the Fordsfield Centre in Bury Road, which is a service run by Heart of England Mencap.

The volunteers started transforming the outside space by landscaping and making a start on a new butterfly garden.

The outside space will be used by the people with complex learning disabilities that Fordsfield Centre supports. Later in the summer, it will be planted and finished, using money raised through the recent Tesco Bags of Help collection in stores across Leamington.

The garden will be full of wild flowers to attract butterflies, bees and other insects.

Helena Wallis, Chief Executive at Heart of England Mencap, said: “It’s going to be a really valuable sensory space for the people with complex physical and learning disabilities that we support at Fordsfield.

“It would never have been possible without the donation from Tesco and the hard work of this volunteer team from Santander and we are so grateful for their support.

“To a small charity like ours, it makes a huge difference.”

Heart of England Mencap supports individuals with learning disabilities, working across Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Services range from day activities to residential care, with supported living, short breaks, respite and outreach also a key part of the charity’s work.