Unemployed volunteers have been helping with the second stage of the plans that residents at Woodland Court in Cwmbran have to transform their garden.
Last year a £5,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund helped them kick-off work on a multi-stage project.
Now after receiving a grant of £2,000 from Postcode Community Trust they have been able to start the second stage.
Howard and Tamara Moffatt are two retired former landscape gardeners who live at the retirement scheme. They wanted to make sure the grant not only improved the garden for residents to relax and socialise but offered opportunities for unemployed people to learn skills to find work.
Several unemployed people joined Bron Afon’s volunteering project called Gardening That Works and were able to spend time gardening at Woodland Court while learning job skills with Bron Afon staff.
Hear from the volunteers and Howard and Tamara in this video
Howard said: “We are very grateful to the support received from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
“Tamara and I know that the skills involved in gardening are so useful in any job. You need to be able to be a team player, able to follow instructions, be creative, and work unsupervised. All employers look for these traits.
“It was a pleasure to have these volunteers work with us. We have offered them references for any jobs they apply for and have said we would be happy to give them advice on starting a gardening business.”