A Co Down garden centre, staffed by adults with learning disabilities, has donated 100 plants to children attending a local primary school as part of a school recycling project.
The flowers, which are cultivated by people supported in Praxis Care’s Conlig Day Services, will be planted in recycled pots and pans the children from Bangor Central Integrated Primary School will bring from home.
“This has benefits for us helping teach our pupils about the importance of supporting local, and in particular, local charities,” said school principal Peter Campbell.
“This also gives us the opportunity to teach our pupils about being eco-friendly and reusing pots and pans and other receptacles they bring in for the beautiful flowers provided to us by Praxis Care.”
Conlig Day Services provides care and support to 15 people who help propagate and grow flowers for sale to the public.
One of them is Eoghan Gourley, who said: “I love potting flowers and looking after them and I especially love being able to take them to shops helping to sell them.
“We are all very happy that the children in Bangor Central will look after our flowers.”
The centre, funded by the South Eastern, Belfast, Northern and Western Health and Social Care Trusts, grew from an empty field.
Praxis Care has transformed it over the years into a working therapeutic service with raised beds and pathways for ease of access for its ageing attendees.
It now supplies flowers and compost to the Conlig Community Association during the Ards and North Down in Bloom competition.
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