Spotlight on volunteers: Woodstock court gardening project

This Volunteers' Week, we are shining a spotlight on five of our resident volunteers, all of whom are working with us in partnership to improve our services.

Woodstock Court is a Grade II listed building, established by the Duchy of Cornwall in 1914 and now managed as one of our sheltered schemes.

Distinguished by an ornamental arrangement of flower beds laid out in intricate designs, Woodstock Court boasts a Parterre Garden in 15th-century French Renaissance style.

A showcase for horticultural skill, the garden has received special care and attention from resident volunteer gardeners and benefits from effective partnership working between the caretaking service, estate services team, contractors and residents.

On a recent caretaking review visit, residents outlined how this kind of partnership working between teams and residents - to identify and tackle shared priorities together - should act as a blueprint for our wider caretaking, estate services and housing management approach.

Residents said of the gardening project

“We had Beverley Johnson as a champion. She got a team of caretakers to join residents at Woodstock Court to clear the garden and arranged for the contractor Groundscapes to start planting. The estate management team then arranged for monthly meetings with the contractor, residents and the caretaking team.

We had to put in the monthly inspections to ensure the gardening was happening and to identify what the volunteer gardeners and contractor would commit to for that month. The estate services team would then confirm that what we had asked the contractor to do was within their contract.

When the new contractors came in, estate services were amazing. They got us to meet with new contractors, who had a poor start when mobilising. By meeting them early on, expectations were set. We need someone at L&Q to champion what’s important to residents. For us, it was the garden.”

“The caretaking service is a blessing to this scheme”

“Looking at the garden and the living environment, I consider myself blessed to live in a place like this. One thing that is missing and has been creating problems is the lack of communication with L&Q - engaging more can only be valuable for all of us.”

An L&Q officer said of the gardening project

“The improvements to the garden were led by residents – they made it clear just how passionate they are about the garden, put pressure on me and I championed them. Without the residents, the garden project wouldn’t have happened – without residents bringing things up, estate standards will drop.“