DAY care patients at the Ardenlea Marie Curie Centre in Ilkley are developing their gardening skills thanks to Help the Hospices Millennium Awards. National lottery money was made available for volunteer-based

projects to benefit patients at hospices. Ardenlea was successful in gaining a £2,700 grant to establish a

horticultural therapy department. Hazel Fordham, a volunteer at the centre for the past eight years, pictured right, is at the forefront of the new project. The money has enabled Hazel to attend courses and the centre to buy gardening equipment, bulbs, seeds, cold frames, books, and even a camera to record the happenings in the garden. Volunteers manager Liz Binns said: "Everyone is very enthusiastic and even patients who are physically unable to do the work are getting involved with reading the book and coming up with suggestions. Even the in-patients have benefited already as each bedside locker has a bowl of bulbs on it planted by the day care patients. We are really sowing the seeds here for when we move to the new centre in 2001. We will of course be able to take all the equipment even bulbs with us."

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