Seasonal Horticulture Certificate

At BTW we are passionate about supporting people to make achievements and have their own success, and with this we like to ensure that these achievements are evidenced.

With the staff team having had experience working with education providers and qualificatory bodies, and even writing nationally recognised qualifications, we have developed a full range of skills based certificates that we are able to deliver to our client group.

Our most recent addition is a Horticulture certificate, which unlike many horticulture courses is written to be delivered throughout a complete year cycle in a garden environment. Taking learners through basic health and safety, tool maintenance, working ethic to start, units can then be selected to reflect seasonal tasks and build to form a complete certificate that will evidence practical skills that span the majority of horticultural tasks that may be encountered in a garden based environment.

If you are interested in finding out more about the learning opportunities that we deliver, or supporting our learners on their learning journey, then be in contact: admin@beyondthewall.org.uk

Posted By Phill VWilliams, February 2018

The decorating continues

Winter can see a number of days out in the garden made difficult, Frost, snow and heavy rain can all be factors that prevent a number of jobs getting completed to plan. However as with all things at BTW, we are never slowed up in our pace of change and improvement.

The bitter cold , rain and frosty ground interrupted work on and around the lawn recently, so attention and time was turned to continuing with our decoration plan of the interior spaces. last year saw the IT suite, office and kitchen painted out. A month or so ago the Apple Store was given a fresh coat of paint, and so with bad weather, attention was turned to freshening up the toilets in readiness for a summer of public openings.

With walls brushed down (spiders were gently ushered outside) emulsion was applied, followed by the gloss work, which helped to finish things off. The two toilets that were looking like they were in need are now tidy, clean and fresh looking. BTW would like to thank everyone who lent a hand in getting this job done. The majority of our inside spaces have now been given a lick of paint, future decorating projects this year will turn our attention to the fronts of the greenhouses, the woodwork is in need of a sand and paint to get them gleaming, and we are always looking for any additional assistance, so if you are a dab hand with paint brushes and fancy a spot of summer decoration in the sunshine then feel free to be in contact with us via our email address for a volunteer application pack ( admin@beyondthewall.org.uk ).

Posted by Phill V Williams, February 2018

Volunteering

Its not National Volunteer Week, but at BTW we don’t need a national campaign to draw attention to the amazing work that our volunteers do, we appreciate and celebrate them every day.

With a small but skilled staff team running BTW, we are fortunate to have number of great volunteers who work alongside us in delivering a top quality service, where support is offered in a variety of ways to all the people who access the walled garden.

Volunteers currently support our service through propagation of plants for the garden itself, as well as for sale, proceeds from which contribute to the cost of the range of skill building and therapeutic session we provide. We also have a number of volunteers who support our clients in sessions, in order that they are able to maximise their learning and skill building and have success in the activities they wish to explore. We have volunteers who come in seasonally to assist with specific tasks in the garden, and volunteers who have come in to help improve the inside environment, by making repairs and decorating for us. many of our volunteers bring a complimentary range of skills to BTW, which adds depth to the learning process. In addition we have a number of people who have volunteered their time in assisting with logistics for special projects and providing us with materials and plants that have been invaluable over the last 18 months while we have undertaken a restoration of the garden.

If in visiting the walled garden you have been inspired and would like to be a part of our vibrant and growing community, be it to assist with horticulture, support in ICT, therapeutic and or skill building sessions, driving and logistics, trusteeship or helping with the catering in our cafe, then please be in contact. We are always looking for new people to join us and build upon what we have created within the walled garden. Drop us a line at admin@beyondthewall.org.uk or give us a call on 01379788700 or even pop past to say hello in person, we would love to meet you.

Posted by Phill V-Williams, February 2018

New People Carrier

February was quite an eventful month when it came to transport at BTW, as it became apparent that our mini bus was nearing the end of its working life. Following the gear box finally giving up repair costs looked to be enormous, and with other smaller minor faults that needed fixing, it was finally time to look at replacing it with a vehicle more suited to our needs.

With Angie and Sharlene spending considerable time researching vehicles, a number of options were looked at and then tried out to see if they would comfortably seat everyone who would need to use a BTW vehicle. With two vehicles in the running, one was finally chosen and on a Friday afternoon it was collected in time for its first use. With everyone belted in safely we set off to test it out. The heating made the cold Friday afternoon vanish within moments of setting off and the fresh interior was in contrast to the tired interior of the mini bus. The ride was smooth and comfortable and with incorporating a fuel stop, it was noted that it was far more fuel efficient than our previous set of wheels.

This coming week will see everyone have the opportunity to test out our new people carrier. As well as the morning and evening lifts that we provide, the people carrier will also be used for getting us to some great start points for walking group sessions, to and from placements and to health and leisure facilities.

We would all like to extend our thanks and appreciation to everyone who played their part in making this new vehicle a reality, particularly to Angie and Sharlene for all of their hard work and time spent ensuring that we got a vehicle that is exactly what we needed.

Posted by Phill VWilliams, February 2018

Monitor donation

Last week one of our monitors in the ICT suite came to the end of its life, which given the use the ICT suite at BTW gets was a great inconvenience to ICT skills building programmes that we run.

With putting word out to our neighbouring village of Westhorpe, via a village email distribution list, we were fortunate to have a number of kind offers from residents of suitable replacements.

Within 24 hours of the call a replacement monitor has been plugged in and is already being used by our clients.

A massive thank you to John and Lynda for their donation and to David for getting the message out to everyone in Westhorpe, as well as to everyone else who also kindly offered replacement screens and other ICT equipment.

Posted by Phill VW, February 2018