Archie's Easter and Dementia Gardens

We recently had the pleasure of joining Chelsea Pensioner Archie Ferguson as he showed us his delightful Easter Garden, part of the wider Dementia Gardens that he and fellow Chelsea Pensioner Alan Rutter have lovingly curated for their fellow Pensioners.

Archie and Alan started the garden on the balcony of the Campbell Ward; a specialised dementia unit within the Margaret Thatcher Infirmary, to help their fellow Pensioners retain vital memories and aiding in sparking conversations with their loved ones during visits. The garden is a quiet, peaceful, and respectful spot perfect for a cup of tea, a book, and some moments of calm reflection.

As part of the Dementia Garden; Archie has also created a special Easter Garden to mark the holiday. Featuring delightful features such as Robins, a variety of plants and foliage, a cross, and heart-warming painted messages. Impressively, Archie fetched the logs for the garden himself, from Ranelagh Gardens within our grounds.

The Dementia Garden

After showing me his Easter Garden, Archie took me further down the balcony to show me the Dementia Garden. The sun was shining beautifully on the array of plants and landscape features, including an immense array of flowers and a creeping vine archway.

A particular highlight was a wooden post which featured signs titled with prominent locations that many of the Pensioners served in, including Malaya, Borneo, Singapore, Arnhem, Berlin, Hamburg and Hamelin. He smiles as he mentions that these are places that many of the Pensioners are familiar with, and seeing the signs helps them bring back old memories.

Touching signs are also dotted throughout this section of the balcony in the plant pots. It’s clear that Archie and Alan spent a lot of time planning this garden with a lot of intention and thought behind it. Particularly poignant are two opposing flowerpots, which Archie explains are a metaphor for sowing what you reap. One side features positive posts titled forgiveness, love, peace, and joy, while the opposite pot features negative signs: war, anger, and hatred. A touching reminder that we choose what qualities we nurture and cultivate in ourselves and how these can have a wider effect on the world and spaces that we share.

As we head back into the ward, I notice Archie’s gardening awards, well-deserved acknowledgements of the skill and care he has put into cultivating both gardens.