WIN is delighted to announce a second phase to our fundraising project for a Sensory Garden at the Acorn Centre in Woosehill, Wokingham. The garden is for use by Adults with Learning Disabilities and other groups who use the centre. Following on from discussions with Growing Places, who supply part of the day care service at the Acorn Centre in Woosehill, and Wokingham Borough Council (WBC), it was agreed that WIN would take on the challenge of refurbishing a tired and badly overgrown area of land at the Acorn Centre and make it into a working sensory garden.

Sensory gardens are designed with surfaces, objects and plants that stimulate senses through touch, sight, sense, taste and hearing. These stimuli are widely documented as being beneficial in helping those with Learning Difficulties, as they enhance a safe place for people to explore their senses in a fun environment.

The garden area WIN is transforming originally opened in 2015 and was a favourite of attendees of the Acorn Centre. After a long period of neglect, this area was going to need a lot of work to realise Growing Places' and WIN's dreams of what this garden could be.

The project is going to be no easy task. Sue Jackson, founder of WIN, and Rosemary O’Donnell, Wokingham In Need’s Secretary, progressed discussions with WBC and Growing Places, managing to obtain permission to work on the land and get agreement from WBC that they would like WIN to undertake the completion and funding of this exciting task.

The first stage of the development was creating an architect’s plan, which was drawn up by Peter Izod, WIN Ambassador. This plan was then discussed with various companies with a view of sourcing funding.

Quotes were obtained and due to the amount of time the area had not been tended to or used and WIN’s determination to ensure that the garden would be fit for purpose whilst being exciting to use, beautiful to look at and easy to maintain, the costs were high.

It was pretty clear that WIN would need some help funding this amazing project. WIN has successfully applied for grants but is sadly still short of funding for the whole project and therefore a decision had to be made – can we start this project?

The trustees of WIN met and it was agreed something had to be done, so the project got underway regardless of the funding problems – however, although initial work has started, the project isn’t fully funded yet and WIN urgently needs the support of the local community to enable them to complete this wonderful project.

You can see some of the progress we've made so far below...

Things are definately moving on - we are nearly there but need additional funding for some sensory equipment. Can you help?