Author: Guy Manchester

Since last we spoke, Bristol has been hit by its first frosts of the year and some quite lairy winds, forcing our growing spaces to hunker down for some rest. We, on the other hand, and those who come to our sessions, certainly haven’t been doing the same.

Read on for some of our autumn highlights – we’ve been busy!

Wellspring Settlement

The Wellspring Settlement gardening group recently welcomed the new Gardening for Health worker to her first session. Harriet will be with us now every week, helping us with session delivery.

We’ve already enjoyed collaborating on community bulb planting around the centre and a bug hotels workshop.

We’ll be heading out locally foraging materials to make wreaths soon – then returning to base to get creative.

North Bristol Dementia-friendly Allotment

Session sizes have been a roller-coaster over autumn. In the middle of November, we had our busiest session of the year, with 26 people joining us. The less busy sessions have been a welcome chance to reflect on the season and make plans for 2025.

Our volunteers continue to make Brentry the success it is by instilling a sense of community through a warm welcome to all, so an especially heartfelt end-of-year thank you to all of them.

BRI Sessions

With the support of donations from the public and involvement from UHBW volunteers, we have managed to replant the living wall in Sanctuary Square, where we deliver our BRI sessions. 

We’ve also been at UK Dementia Congress 24 to share learning and inspiration from the project. We hope it will encourage others to bring gardening to patients with dementia in acute hospitals. 

South Bristol Dementia-friendly Allotment

The Talbot Road site has grown some bumper crops this autumn and has become home to a thriving wildlife community. 

We have loved engaging with the allotment community and supporting our participants with our wonderful volunteers who have helped make the space so bountiful and healing.

Hoppiness Project

The Hoppiness Project culminated in two beautiful sessions celebrating our collective endeavour with parties. We spent the sessions crafting hop-themed bunting together (because whoever heard of a party without bunting?). Then, we sampled some of the beer our hops helped make. Except for one woman who was adamant, “It’s not as good as Northern beer,” it was a resounding hit!

ICYMI, a team from The Guardian visited one of our Hoppiness sessions in September, producing a short film they published on social media. Check it out on Instagram or TikTok.

Laurence Hill Health Centre

The incredible wildlife garden at LHHC featured in the Trinity Arts Nature in Newtown series, showcasing how local older people benefit from the beautiful plants and abundance of biodiversity onsite. Check out this inspiring video showcasing the project.

As well as weekly green craft activities and further improving the space for the local wildlife, we’ve also been working hard developing the terrace for the wellbeing of NHS staff.

Weston General Hospital

Our latest opening! Following the success of our work at BRI, we’re excited to announce that we’ve now launched dementia-friendly weekly gardening sessions at WGH as well. 

Thanks to help from wonderful volunteers and hospital staff, our work here is already proving to be hugely impactful for patients. 

Our initial focus was beautifying the Rainbow Garden, a staff wellbeing sanctuary. We are now delivering sessions indoors to keep patients warm over winter.

Our South Glos Meeting Centre recently had a trip to Oakham Treasures to enjoy their unique collection of memorabilia from the last century on a recommendation from one of the group members.

Despite the terrible weather on the day, everyone had a lovely time, with people commenting on how much they enjoyed the varied and informative displays, having lunch together and the journey in the coach.

Another member said they hoped it was ‘the first of many trips together’ – and we’re sure it will be!

Alive would like to say a huge thank you to One You South Gloucestershire, whose donation funded the trip and Green community transport for the coach.

South Gloucestershire Meeting Centre members spent time decorating a Christmas cake and biscuits at their Wednesday session this week.

The biscuits made a perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea, while the cake will be enjoyed by Members over Christmas and into the New Year!

We wish you a peaceful time this holiday.

At the Meeting Centres, we support people living with mild to moderate dementia and their carers.

If you would like information on how to join the Meeting Centre, visit this page on our website or contact the manager on 07377 197893.

We run sessions in Downend on a Tuesday and in Bradley Stoke on Wednesday and Thursday, 10 am – 3 pm, £25 per couple.

At the beginning of December, one of the BME groups Alive has been working with, the Golden Agers, held a bring-and-buy sale in Easton.

The event was well attended and, as well as a raffle to win a beautiful Christmas hamper. There were many tempting bargains on offer, including some home-cooked tasty treats and a delicious handmade apple and tomato chutney, all prepared by some exceptionally talented members of the group.

It was a happy and lively occasion full of laughter. There was also an opportunity for everyone to enjoy each other’s company and share their latest news and special memories.

One of those memories came courtesy of an old photo from back in the day of some especially impressive stiletto heels 👠

Alive would like to send a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone that supported our Christmas Fundraising Bazaar at the Bristol Dementia Meeting Centre at St Monica Trust, Westbury Fields, last week.

For several weeks our members have enjoyed making lavender bags, crafting Christmas cards, potting up Spring bulbs and helping to prepare chocolate and sweetie cones. They also wanted to show appreciation to the hardworking carers at St Monica Trust and so they worked together to make children’s Christmas Eve treat boxes, which they gifted to care staff on the day.

The tombola stall was very popular and was run by members who raised money for animal welfare for many years. Lesley told us that she had loved the opportunity to contribute to the local community again.

We are delighted to say that our mini-social enterprise was a huge success! Our members helped raise a whopping £355 on the day!

For Dementia Action Week, Alive and Brace are running a webinar on the benefits of community gardening for people living with dementia.

Alive Activities’ community gardening team will be hosting a free webinar from Bristol’s first dementia-friendly allotment on Thursday 19th May. We’ll be sharing ways to connect through nature-based activity and documenting the powerful impact the project has had on the lives of participants and those around them.

Helen Foster-Collins, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Exeter, will also be with us. Helen will be presenting the learning she has made from her engagement with the allotment, which helped inform her research into better understanding the benefits of community gardening projects for people living with dementia.

Alive’s Meeting Centre project lead Louise Spencer will then share an update on their pioneering work. She will also touch on how the team will be incorporating gardening to benefit attendees.

There will be time for a Q&A and signposting to practitioners in the field.

Booking link:

Some fun reasons to get involved with volunteering for us

We recently took part in this year’s Get Growing Trail. Organised by Bristol Food Network, the Get Growing Trail represents a unique opportunity for people to glimpse behind the usually closed doors of 22 of the city’s community gardens, farms and green spaces.

We had an incredible time when our allotment opened to the public as part of Bristol Food Network’s Get Growing Trail. There was a constant stream of visitors and not only did we make some great new connections, but we also reconnected with lots of old friends! On the day we teamed up with Alive’s #OneGoodTurn project and ran a miniature garden workshop for children. We’re looking forward to taking some of the gardens into care homes very soon. Do check out more of the photos from the day here. 

We’d also like to thank all the wonderful new volunteers who’ve recently started supporting our gardening sessions, both at the allotment and our Lawrence Weston Community Garden. They make a huge difference to the lives of our participants, and if this quote from someone who’s just started volunteering with us is anything to go by they, find the experience very positive themselves: 

“I just wanted to say thank you again for such an enjoyable afternoon volunteering with you. I had a lovely time engaging with the residents and the others who attended the session, and it was so rewarding to do some meaningful gardening tasks with them.” 

If you’d like to find out more about volunteering with Alive, please have a look at our volunteering opportunities here.