Patients harvest hospital-grown Christmas trees to bring festive cheer on wards
The Horticulture team at Rampton Hospital, and patients who work in the service, have cut and provided Christmas trees for the hospital's wards as it gets ready for the festive season.
In 2015, a space of land inside the hospital near the horticulture department came available after the demolition of old buildings. The team took over the space and had an idea to plant some seedling Christmas trees to encourage wildlife, with around 500 trees being planted including pear and apple trees.
Now 10 years on, the Christmas trees are six to eight feet high and the team have been asked if they could supply Christmas trees to all the wards. The team took on the challenge with the help of patients who attend the horticulture service and worked together to cut down the required number of trees, which have been provided to the wards free of charge.
Mark Garner, Technical Instructor in the Horticulture team, said:
"We get a lot of pheasants and ducks coming into the grounds and we thought the planting of these trees ten years ago would be a great addition to encourage more wildlife and would be good for the environment. At the time, we didn't have plans to use them as Christmas trees around the hospital.
It's a great idea, and the patients have really enjoyed being part of this work. It has given them a sense of pride knowing that their input has been of value, whilst learning skills that they would probably never have undertaken otherwise."
The Horticulture team has also worked with the hospital Security Department and Mitie, who provide facilities management for the hospital, who put up brackets on the front of the old hospital entrance to display wall mounted Christmas trees and have also provided the Christmas trees in the Recreation Hall and staff restaurant.
The service has enough planted Christmas trees for a few more years yet and if viable, may plan to plant more trees ready for future years.
Rate this page or report a problem
