Stowmarket Lawn and Garden: Garden SOS – St Elizabeth Hospice
As part of our 125th Anniversary celebrations, associates across the country got involved in charity and voluntary activities to create 125 Acts of Kindness – an initiative to establish Bosch’s legacy through future generations.
The Bosch Lawn and Garden team at our Stowmarket site placed an emphasis on completing voluntary work in support of local charities and organisations. This prompted the formation of the Garden SOS team – a group of volunteers who come together to improve the visual appeal of areas in their local community. This was the second Garden SOS event of its kind following the success of Project Bee Garden.
The event took place at the St Elizabeth Hospice – an independent charity organisation who provide support and care for people with life-limiting and progressive illnesses.
Large areas of the hospice’s site required vast improvements to make the space more attractive. The Garden SOS team, led by Roy De Groot, Quality Engineer at Bosch Lawn and Garden, consisted of volunteers from various departments at the Stowmarket site. From Engineering to Marketing – everyone had the chance to get involved. Bringing associates together gave team members the opportunity to see Lawn and Garden tools in action, as well as learning and using tools from other departments.
Roy noted that the event was all about giving back to the hospice for all their work helping him and many others in the volunteering team who had a personal connection to the Hospice. He stated, “we did it just because they had the need and we had the resources, the tools and people to support the activity”.
On the first of two visits to the hospice, the team powered through miserable weather conditions to complete all set-out tasks. The team worked together to level ground, trim hedges and make various planter boxes using Bosch DIY and Garden products to maintain the area which can now be enjoyed by patients, visitors, staff and volunteers.
Following this success, James Savage, Logistics Coordinator from the St Elizabeth Hospice, was incredibly impressed with the job the group had done. He reached out asking the Garden SOS team to return for a second day to complete additional maintenance tasks and build more planter boxes in a different area of the site. The second day gave everyone the opportunity to rotate jobs and work on different aspects of the project, all members came together here to support one another in an excellent display of teamwork and collaboration.
