Green fingered clients join wetland conservation project
As part of our ‘Be Active’ initiative, Home Instead clients have supported a local wetland plant conservation project ‘GroWet’ run by the Freshwater Habitats Trust
What is GroWet?
In supporting clients across Banbury, Bicester, Brackley and Towcester we like to encourage people to be as active as possible and feel like they are doing something worthwhile. This project did exactly that! Read on to find out more about it.
GroWet is a community project where local people were encouraged to care for an endangered wetland plant over the summer months of 2022. At the start of Autumn, the plants were returned to the wetland habitats trust who will replant them back out into the environment. The plants will be monitored and our clients will be kept updated as to how they’re doing over time.
We have been fortunate and have had 18 clients participating in this valuable project.
Why get involved with this project?
Research shows that people who are more active have a more fulfilling life and better health outcomes. For this reason, we try to encourage clients to be as active as they can be. That’s why we created a relationship with the Freshwater Habitats Trust and in particular their GroWet project . We were introduced to this project through another project we are involved in that aims to make Banbury an age friendly town.
Many of our clients have grandchildren and great-grandchildren and through them have a concern for the environment. They also often have expertise in gardening and time to devote to something new.
What happened?
We involved our Care Professionals in the project and asked them to liaise with their clients to talk about the project and to see which clients would like to participate. Eighteen clients from Banbury, Adderbury, Brackley, Kings Sutton, Bloxham and other villages and towns in the area received a rare plant. These included Flea Sedge, Fen Violet, Creeping Marshwort, and Marsh Arrowgrass. The plants were accompanied with details about them, compost, instructions of how to care for them and a diary to note the plants progress over time. At the end of the summer, the plants were returned to the Freshwater Habitats Trust who will now replant them out in the environment.
The Trust intend to share news on the progress of plants to be shared back with participants in the project. Freshwater Habitats Trust Community Engagement Officer Lizzie Every said: “We are so grateful to everyone at Home Instead North Oxfordshire who has taken part in GroWet. Their support will make a real difference to the beautiful but threatened wetland and freshwater habitats, which are special places that support a rich variety of species.”
This project has been part of the care and support we provide to our clients helping them to get the most from life in North Oxfordshire and South West Northamptonshire.Find out more about supported living in this area and see if home care in North Oxfordshire and South West Northamptonshire could be right for your loved ones.
