TV Presenter Charlie Dimmock to Open Community Allotments

Gardening expert and star of BBC One’s Ground Force, Charlie Dimmock, will be guest of honour at a special ground breaking ceremony, being held to mark the launch of a community allotments scheme.

The allotments are being created in grounds located behind Arbory residential care home on London Road in Andover. They are being designed for use by those living in the community with dementia and their families.

The TV star will join Mayoress of Test Valley, Councillor Janet Whiteley and representatives from the Alzheimer’s Society, along with local residents and businesses, for the event on Thursday 24th April.

Charlie Dimmock commented: “I’m really looking forward to visiting the site of the new community allotments and to hearing more about the project. It sounds a fantastic initiative that will benefit the whole community.”

Arbory Community Allotments will be open to members of the public and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Families with a loved one who has dementia will be able to reserve a small growing area, where they can grow vegetables, flowers or plants. Whatever is grown will be theirs to take home.

In addition to being wheelchair accessible and a disability and dementia friendly environment, there will be chickens, a children’s play area and picnic benches where families can relax after tending their garden.

Arbory’s manager, Iain Slack, commented: “For many individuals, living in the community with dementia can be an isolating experience with little opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, or benefit from physical exercise. Through the allotments we hope to provide an opportunity for gardening and socialising, within a safe environment.”

He added: “Gardening has been shown to have many benefits for those with dementia and we believe projects like this work best when whole communities are involved in the support and development of them. We hope local residents will be able to join us for the ground breaking and we’d love to hear from anyone who may be interested in taking on an area of the allotments.”

Local residents are invited to attend the official ground breaking ceremony, being held on Thursday 24th April 2014, from 4.00pm – 7.00pm. For more information contact Iain on 01264 363 363 or email iain@arbory.co.uk.