Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 06 May 2024 at 15:20
The Chelmsford wellbeing garden, which was gifted to the ambulance station after winning a silver medal at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, was officially opened last week.
The garden – named ‘60o East – A Garden Between Continents’ – was donated by Sean Butler of Danbury-based garden design and landscape company, Cube 1994 Ltd, as a way of saying thank you for the care EEAST staff provided to his late mother.
The wellbeing garden was officially opened on Friday 26th August by Chelmsford MP Vicky Ford who was accompanied by Tom Abell, EEAST Chief Executive, and staff at Chelmsford Ambulance Station and from Cube 1994 Ltd.
Vicky Ford, the MP for Chelmsford said:
“It is an important addition to our community here in Chelmsford and will help our hardworking paramedics to have a quiet place to reflect after a particularly difficult working shift. Thank you to the local companies who have come together to make this donation happen.”
The team at Cube 1994 took two months to rebuild the garden in the allotted space at Chelmsford Garden, carefully moving the plants from storage by lorry to keep them alive along with the stone features.
Tom Abell said:
“I believe this is the first Chelsea Garden to be moved to an ambulance station and it is a stunning environment for our staff to enjoy in between shifts.
“I would like to thank Sean Butler on behalf of everyone at EEAST for his kind donation and his team at Cube 1994 for the hard work in moving the garden to Chelmsford Ambulance Station with such care and skill.
“The wellbeing of our people is a top priority of the Trust as we know it can be a challenging job at times and this garden is already making a huge difference.”
Sean Butler, managing director of Cube 1994 Ltd, said:
“I wanted to thank the staff at EEAST for the care and compassion they provided to my late mother and this seemed the perfect way, as it will have an ongoing positive impact on the staff at EEAST.
“We have been designing gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show for some years now and it has been a pleasure for our team to rebuild the garden at Chelmsford Ambulance Station which was challenging and really tested all of our ingenuity.”
Charity effort
Enhancing the Trust’s outdoor spaces to give colleagues a chance to unwind, has been a recent focus for the East of England Ambulance Service Charity. The ability to have a nice space to sit outside, in the fresh air, even for a few minutes can help improve anyone’s day. Over the last 18 months, the Charity has helped to support a number of wellbeing gardens across the Trust, providing staff and volunteers with an area for relaxation, reflection and respite. Volunteers have even given up their own time to support these projects for their colleagues.
The Charity has also been lucky enough to secure a grant from NHS Charities Together, which not only supported the funding of a number of wellbeing gardens, it also enabled the distribution of over 120 benches across 80 Trust sites. The benches were chosen to enhance and encourage the use of outdoor spaces and to provide an alternative space for breaks.
Using charitable funds in your area
Charitable funds have also been used by several departments to improve their outdoor and indoor environment, and are accessible to all EEAST colleagues, whether frontline or support services. If your station or office would like to utilise charitable funds to enhance your station, office or breakout room please contact charitablefunds@eastamb.nhs.uk to find out more or visit Charitable fund
This is all possible, thanks to the generosity from donations, legacy gifts and grants which enable us to support our staff, volunteers and local communities in ways above and beyond what NHS funding can ordinarily provide. The East of England Ambulance Service Charity is proud to support the staff, volunteers and local communities in EEAST.
Published 31st August 2022