Nurse-led innovation project celebrates two year anniversary

In 2022, Stephanie Llewellyn, an Advance Nurse Practitioner from Hampshire was successful in her application for the Elsie Wagg (Innovation) Scholarship for a wellbeing garden for the benefit of her patients. Two years on, the project is thriving and evolving – below is an update from the project.

“I just thought it would be lovely to end 2024 with some final photos from the community wellbeing garden at Forton Medical Centre.

Last week we had a formal opening of the new sensory garden that has been created with great help from Morgan Sindall Ltd. Our youngest and oldest (am sure they won’t mind me saying!) volunteers cut the ribbon and declared the garden open.

We had lovely food on the day prepared by plant based chef Sarah.

Dr Vos has donated 10 roses to the sensory garden and we can’t wait for them to bloom, and Dr Lucas a wonderful fig plant called Fabio, which now in the ground will thrive.

One of our volunteers had grown a Xmas tree in their garden but it had become too big – so kindly dug it out and it has been replanted at the garden, I am very excited to have a permanent Xmas tree there.

We have had a much wanted picnic bench donated by Abbeycroft Nursery based in Segensworth – thank you, a bench donated from the Rotary club and my father-in-law is repairing another bench for the garden – so there will be plenty of seating for us all when the weather improves to have lunch in the garden.

First steps have been started at Brune Medical Centre in starting their garden – it is planned in the new year that there will be volunteering sessions there too.

Happy Xmas everyone and here’s to 2025 and lots more gardening!”