Revamped dementia garden is sense-sational

Joanne McDonough, director of strategy at RDaSH, is pictured opening the garden, with Wendy Sharps, dementia patient, and the Civic Mayor of Doncaster Cllr Julie Grace.placeholder image
Joanne McDonough, director of strategy at RDaSH, is pictured opening the garden, with Wendy Sharps, dementia patient, and the Civic Mayor of Doncaster Cllr Julie Grace.
A REVAMPED community dementia garden has been unveiled in Doncaster thanks to £6,500 of funding from charity.

The garden, based outside St Catherine’s House, a Grade II listed building on the Tickhill Road Hospital site, has been jointly created with the dementia charity Donmentia and Flourish, a not-for- profit community enterprise.

The garden includes plants which are multi-sensory to prompt memory recall by appealing to all of the senses – sight, smell, touch, sound and even taste, thanks to the use of herbs and edible produce grown in the raised beds.

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The garden was initially established in 2015, but ten years on needed a revamp.

New seating is now in place, with wind chimes, bird feeders and new planting, and a new fountain has been put in the garden.

In the next few weeks more grasses will be planted and the paving will be cleaned.

The money has come from a range of charities, including £3,000 from Your Hearts and Minds, the charity for Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust.

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The garden was launched by RDaSH’s director of strategy, Joanne McDonough, who oversees the Your Hearts and Minds Charity.

She said: “Supporting people and their families to live well with dementia is important to our charity and I hope this garden goes some way to bringing joy to people with dementia and their loved ones.

“It’s such a pleasant place to come and spend time, enjoying the sights and smells of the flowers and plants.”

Eileen Harrington, founder of Donmentia, said: “It’s lovely to see the garden reinvigorated for people to enjoy.”

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