Airdrie family praises Loretto Housing for garden transformation

Loretto Housing Association tenants Kim and Roy Wilkinson both have cerebral palsy and are wheelchair-bound. The couple from Chapelhall, Airdrie, get support to live independently, with daily support from carers.

But Kim and Roy have struggled to maintain their garden since moving into the home in 2010.

Now thanks to an environmental week of action by Loretto, part of Wheatley Group, they will be able to enjoy their garden.

Kim said: “The work the guys have done to our garden will make an enormous difference. Our disabilities mean we can’t really maintain the garden.

“When our housing officer Andrea Dearie suggested they could come out and sort the garden, we were delighted to say yes. The work they’ve done is fantastic and means we will be able to get outside during the better weather. We can’t thank them enough.”

Since being introduced in 2022, the week of action by the Neighbourhood Environmental Teams (NETs) at Wheatley Group have included creating new community garden spaces, tackling bulk uplift, and encouraging recycling and upcycling.

NETs staff Andrew Neil, David Hughes and Steven Larkin gave Kim and Roy’s garden a makeover by cleaning and re-sanding the patio area. They also laid stones along the fence to make it easier to maintain and weeded the garden and driveway area.

Loretto Housing Head of Housing Jonny Green said: “We’re delighted to hear Kim and Roy are so happy with the work to their garden. It’s just one of many ways we’ve been able to support them to remain in their home. We also installed metal plates on the internal doors to reduce any damage from the wheelchairs and arranged extra USB plugs and double sockets to make it easier to use assistive technology.”

Steven Gray, Director of Environmental Services at Wheatley Group, added: “Our environmental weeks of action have proven really popular with customers since they were first introduced and Kim and Roy’s garden shows the difference it makes to tenants living in our communities.”

Ends

Photo caption: (at the back, left to right) NETs staff Andrew Neil, David Hughes and Steven Larkin transformed the garden for Roy and Kim Wilkinson (front).