School leavers in Weymouth garden makeover (From Dorset Echo)

School leavers in Weymouth garden makeover

11:30am Sunday 19th August 2012 in News By Joanna Davis

A GROUP of 11 school leavers have given up part of their summer holiday to help the community blossom.

The teenagers renovated and refurbished a sensory garden at the Ridgeway Day Care Centre in Weymouth as part of the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme.

The government scheme is aimed at developing the skills and potential of 16 and 17-year-olds.

Students teamed up with Weymouth College to tackle the ambitious garden project.

The Ridgeway Day Centre, which caters for adults with learning difficulties, had its garden transformed into five different sections by students.

The young gardeners created a section for every sense that will enable all service users to interact with it.

Sally James, assistant manager at the centre, said: “It benefits us as it gives us the opportunity to start looking at a space that we didn’t have the money or the time to change.’’ The new garden gives users of the day centre a space to sit in.

Student Lewis Ward said: “The last four weeks have been amazing, meeting new people, doing new activities and getting to see the faces of the Ridgeway Centre residents when we showed them the finished project.”

For information about future NCS programs send an email to alex_sergison@weymouth.ac.uk.