Gloucestershire Ringway have built a fantastic relationship with local charity ‘James Hopkins Trust’ who provide nursing respite care for Gloucestershire’s life limited and life threatened young children. We have been able to assist them with various volunteering activities at the very special Kites Corner. The James Hopkins Trust is very close to our hearts and it is great to have such a good relationship with them.
We have completed various Volunteer Days at the Trust including tidying the gardens, assisting with bigger projects such as reducing hedge height and also helping prepare for the Kite Ball by providing administrative volunteers.
It was therefore our pleasure to be able to provide something a little bit different, using our skillsets to refurbish one of the areas in the Trust’s sensory garden at Kites Corner. The ‘wavy path’ is built to provide a sense of going over a hump back bridge for children using wheelchairs and is a key part of the sensory experience. It was in desperate need of a refurbishment and refresh and our Business Unit Manager; Nick Radford was keen for us to rise to the challenge.
Working with our supply chain partners CR MacDonald and WJ, the existing path was planed out and then replaced with a new wavy resurfaced path with a defined edge. Our Lining Supervisor Paul Robinson oversaw the colour scheme and worked collaboratively with the Trust to make the refurbishment something special. Paul’s creativity was piqued by this activity and spotting a blank space at the end of the path he believed we could make the new design even better by creating the logo and the kite to make the wavy path complete.
We know that the James Hopkins Trust are very proud of their sensory garden, recognising that it plays a key part in the care they provide to the children. We also knew it was close to the memorial stream and shortly before we refurbished the path, we knew parents would be visiting to take part in the annual memorial service for children who are no longer with us. It was therefore special to see this project completed for this wonderful place and we hope many children and their families can make memories on the wavy path.
Thank you to the James Hopkins Trust for all the work you do and support you provide for families at such difficult times. We look forward to joining you again in 2024 and are always excited to see if you have any new challenges for us!
Leighanne – Performance Manager at Ringway
