Nine Newark and Sherwood Homes tenants came together this month to build a unique scarecrow and support their local allotments at Eton Avenue, Newark.
The scarecrow, built by a group of volunteers ranging in ages up to 91-years-old, has been dressed in its own Newark and Sherwood Homes’ uniform and is now in pride of place at Eton Avenue allotments (a project run by volunteers known collectively as Eton Growers).
Two officers from Newark and Sherwood Homes, Sarah Sturgeon and Samantha Keetley, managed the event and were delighted by the response from everyone.
Sarah said “We are always looking for new ways to engage our tenants and bring local people together, so building a scarecrow seemed like the perfect challenge for us! We had previously visited the allotments and were impressed by its work in supporting local people.
“We know loneliness amongst older people is a national problem, so it was fantastic to invite our older tenants to come together and get creative here in their local community.
“We all had a lovely morning building the scarecrow – all of our tenants were very hands on and wanted to personalise him. The volunteers were really helpful and so supportive of our tenants – so much so in fact, that our tenants donated £100 from their funds towards the allotment project to say thank you.”
The allotment volunteers also gave the tenants crocus seeds to plant at Cleveland Square Community Centre.
There are a range of ways to get involved with Newark and Sherwood Homes and it is always keen to welcome new volunteers. To find out more, please contact the team on 0845 258 5550.
