The first Noticing Nature session of the year was a little bit different to usual, a one-off workshop using art to help us think and talk about favourite garden birds. The workshop was planned to link with the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch at Goodson Lodge in Trowbridge, a residential home specialising in care forContinue reading “Garden Birds at Goodson Lodge”
Category Archives: Workshops
Heading into Winter
I’ve come to the end of my Noticing Nature project sessions this year. I’ll be back at Goodson Lodge Care Home in Trowbridge for a one off session linked to the Great Garden Birdwatch in January, and then will be back on the road working at locations around the county from March. During November, asContinue reading “Heading into Winter”
‘Not Being Forgotten’
Participants in the Noticing Nature project give us feedback on their involvement in a number of ways. Each session is a mixture of making and talking, so we are aways exploring and sharing our relationship to the rest of nature, whether through words, actions or images. Then there’s an additional, more formal evaluation at theContinue reading “‘Not Being Forgotten’”
Conversation and Laughter at Goodson Lodge, Trowbridge
We’ve just come to the end of a block of three sessions at Goodson Lodge Residential Care Home in Trowbridge. Goodson Lodge includes a dedicated dementia care unit, and is run by the Orders of St John Care Trust. All of our sessions focus on the process of noticing the natural world, and responding creatively.Continue reading “Conversation and Laughter at Goodson Lodge, Trowbridge”
Noticing Nature at Arundells
Throughout my time working on the Noticing Nature project I’ve met and worked with participants in a range of outdoor settings, from front and back gardens to parks, front doorsteps, summerhouses, conservatories and a greenhouse. Last week Arundells (in the Salisbury Cathedral Close) kindly hosted a Noticing Nature workshop in a marquee in their garden,Continue reading “Noticing Nature at Arundells”
Togetherness
Noticing Nature is all about exploring and strengthening connections, between participants and their local environment, between them and me, and now that we are working with groups again, between the members of each group. Recently I returned to work with one of the almshouses in Salisbury, about 6 months after my first visit. Building onContinue reading “Togetherness”
Heading into Spring
It’s been a while since I posted on here, and in the meantime the Noticing Nature project has been growing on into 2022. Originally planned to come to and end last year, demand from participants and referrers, and support from our funders has meant that the project has been able to continue through the Winter.Continue reading “Heading into Spring”
Moving Into Autumn
The Noticing Nature project was initially planned to take place during Spring and Summer 2021, as Artist James Aldridge worked outside with isolated older people across Wiltshire. As we head into the Autumn, sessions have continued and wi the partial lifting of Covid restrictions, larger gatherings have become possible outdoors, alongside some small group indoorContinue reading “Moving Into Autumn”
Drawing and Wellbeing
A gentleman I was working with in Trowbridge last week made a comment that really stayed with me. He was talking about the need to slow down and notice, and the role of the arts within that – something that is very close to my own heart. I’ve paraphrased him a little but this isContinue reading “Drawing and Wellbeing”
The Shape of the Project
The majority of Noticing Nature participants have three sessions, one a week for three weeks. In the first session it’s very much about meeting and getting to know each other. I’m very aware that for some people having a stranger (me) come to meet, talk and make with them in their gardens is a newContinue reading “The Shape of the Project”
Noticing Nature 