With each new season, Inverness Botanic Gardens are an explosion of colour and texture with borders planted to demonstrate a wide variety of plants and growing conditions, meaning there is always a display to delight to eye and engage the senses.
Regular gardeners and seasonal volunteers are the powerhouse behind Inverness Botanic Gardens colourful success, having contributed to the maintenance of woodwork, paths, glasshouses, and a variety of projects and horticultural tasks.
Volunteer work is particularly important for completing work as part of ongoing projects, such as the ‘GROW Project’.
GROW stands for Garden-Recycle-Organics-Wildlife, and the project provides a sympathetic environment for adults with a learning disability that uses horticulture therapy to deliver training and work experience which goes towards improving trainees’ levels of independence, social inclusion, health, and happiness.
Amongst these volunteers are employees of LifeScan, who came along to the Inverness Botanic Gardens on 25th May and Thursday 20th July for a staff giveback day.
Ewan MacKintosh, High Life Highland’s Facility Manager for Inverness Botanic Gardens, said: “Around 20 LifeScan volunteers mucked in on site, diligently supporting us all day around the gardens on both occasions.
“Two of our regular ‘GROW Project’ volunteers, Rob and Brian, are employees at LifeScan. Thanks to their suggestion about bringing their work team to help for the day, we were able to collaborate and achieve more than what we could have ordinarily done in months.
“The generosity of local businesses and the wider community towards Inverness Botanic Gardens is astounding, and anything contributed to our projects is gratefully received.”
All LifeScan full time employees benefit from paid time off to volunteer with an organisation of their choice.
Alison Grant, a Team Leader at LifeScan, added: “The team from LifeScan are delighted to have supported the ‘GROW Project’ at Inverness Botanic Gardens, spending both days carrying out gardening and landscaping tasks.
“Everyone involved really enjoyed the experience and were collectively happy to help support the Inverness Botanic Gardens in-house team. It was a pleasure to work alongside their regular gardeners and learn about how the ‘GROW Project’, in turn, supports the local community.
“Care is one of LifeScan’s core values. LifeScan cares for the people it serves, and for the communities it exists in. LifeScan embraces this commitment by encouraging employees to get involved and give back to their local communities where possible.”
Steve Walsh, High Life Highland’s Chief Executive, concluded: “As a charity, High Life Highland is always positively astounded by the generosity of local businesses and members of the public in giving back to its community projects.
“It is heart-warming to know that LifeScan employees have volunteered their time and effort towards bringing the Inverness Botanic Gardens to life during its busiest time of year.
“I’m glad to hear that the LifeScan team thoroughly enjoyed the experience enough to volunteer a second time this year, and on behalf of the Inverness Botanic Gardens team, a huge thank you for everything that was contributed across both days.
“The ‘GROW Project’ welcomes volunteers to support the project and its trainees throughout the year. If you feel inspired by the project and its community-oriented nature, please get in touch with the staff at Inverness Botanic Gardens to see how you can get involved too.”
Drop by the Inverness Botanic Gardens in person to learn more from their friendly staff on site, or send an email to: [email protected]
