Airmount Residents enjoy their Community Garden plus visit to Mount Congreve
The residents in Airmount have had another busy year in their Community Garden and Allotments. The addition of the polytunnel enabled the residents to work throughout the winter months as well as providing a social and recreational outlet.
A big thank you to GIY Ireland for their support in funding this particular initiative. In the lead up to Christmas, the residents participated in a festive six-week flower arranging and making decorative ornaments course. The course was a great success with up to 15 residents involved throughout the six weeks. In the Spring, ten residents participated in a 10-week horticulture course which was kindly funded by the Waterford Education and Training Board. The course focused mainly on developing the skills and knowledge needed to grow and cultivate vegetables in a polytunnel. The participants on the course also spent a lot of time learning how to prepare their raised beds and allotments for the summer months.
The Community Garden in Airmount has really come on in leaps and bounds over the last year. The residents have developed a new wildflower garden as well as a number of new rockeries to the rear of the polytunnel. Along with a whole new range of crops (suitably rotated) and colourful annual and perennial flowers a new edition to the allotment pond has arrived in the guise of a 10 year old Terrapin. Various names are currently being explored. The sunflowers are huge, the cosmos are tall and vibrant and the community garden is really a haven for all residents, and guests alike.
Airmount Go for Life Annual Trip
On Friday 11th July, the Airmount Go for Life Group had a fantastic day trip to mark another successful year. Sixteen of the participants took a leisurely ride on the Waterford Suir Valley Railway which took in picturesque views of the River Suir. This took about an hour and everyone really enjoyed it. The group then went onwards to Mount Congreve Nursery and Gardens, had lunch and a long walk through the beautiful gardens. The group were supplied with a map of the different paths to take around the gardens, everyone took their time and did it at their own pace. The views , the smells and the weather was just glorious. Many plants were bought to take home as a keepsake of the visit. Michelle Doyle Older Persons Resident Support Worker with Respond stated ‘its days like these that make work so enjoyable’.
The Airmount Go for Life Group is growing from strength to strength thanks to a number of new members this year. Five members of the group made the Waterford County Team which competed in the recent National Go for Life Games which took place in Dublin City University in June. The group will resume their weekly meeting every Friday starting back in September.
Posted by Philip O’Reilly and Michelle Doyle – July 2014