Ardee Garden Care & Repair Scheme

Ardee Garden Care & Repair Project- 

Short Listed for Age Friendly Ireland Award

The Ardee Garden Care & Repair project is an Age Friendly Louth initiative supported by the Ardee Elected Members, Ardee Tidy Towns, Dee Hub, An Garda Síochána and Louth Older People’s Council (OPC).

The aim of the project is to provide free gardening services to older people within the town boundary of Ardee.

This community-driven initiative aims to assist those in need by offering essential garden care at no cost, including grass cutting, garden tidying, weeding and hedge cutting.

The initiative has been supported by the Ardee Municipal District Elected Members as part of their Discretionary Budget 2024.

Ardee Elected Members

The project commenced in June of this year and will finish in October 2024. To date over 22 older people have availed of the service and over 300 hours of gardening services have been provided free of charge to older people in Ardee.

The project utilizes existing community resources such as Tidy Towns, Dee Hub and An Garda Siochana. All project partners have combined their local knowledge and expertise to deliver free gardening services to older adults in Ardee .

Dee Hub have been in a position to provide administrative support, to advertise the project locally and to set up a dedicated phone line for the project which is manned by a member of staff from Dee Hub.

Tidy Towns have provided practical knowledge and expertise to assess the gardens and carry out the physical gardening work with the help of the Tidy Towns Volunteers.

An Garda Síochána, Louth Older People’s Council (OPC), Age Friendly Louth and Ardee Elected Members have also supported the project.

Members of An Garda Siochána, Ardee Tidy Towns, Dee Hub and Louth Older Peoples Council.

Joe Grogan Chairperson of the Louth Older People’s Council (OPC) stated “The provision of ongoing help and assistance with garden maintenance gives older people a sense of safety and security in their home and enables them to live independently in their local community”.

The Ardee Garden Care & Repair Project has been shortlisted for An Age Friendly Ireland award under the Environment theme. In total 18 projects were submitted under the environment  theme and 4 have been shortlisted.

Age Friendly Louth Programme Manager Sinead McVerry stated “The built environment has a unique impact on the lives of all older people. This category recognises a community led project that bring about change in the built physical environment with older people in mind.

This project also provides older people with a sense of safety and security and enables them to age with independence in their homes and communities for as long as possible, contributing to an age friendly society”.

Judging took place on 24th September 2024 and the results will be announced at the Age Friendly Ireland Awards ceremony in November 2024. Best of luck to all involved with the project .

If you want to find out more about the Ardee Garden Care & Repair Project click on the link below to see how the project originated and how the partners came together to deliver free gardening services to older people in Ardee.