Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust’s third Apple Day was celebrated on 17 October 2013 at the Green Gym at Cirencester Hospital orchard. The annual event celebrates the apple harvest by inviting local school children and other community members to the orchard to collect and press apples into juice. The children can learn about ‘five a day’ by making fruit ‘creatures’. They also learned about the pollination process by studying the bees which live in hives in the orchard .
The event was opened by Sister Donna Bosson, who said, “It’s great to see children making the most of the apples and having fun outdoors; we have a lot on offer here at Cirencester Hospital.”
The hospital’s Green Gym was opened in 2010 to improve people’s physical activity and support them in leading healthy lifestyles. The scheme also improves the view for staff and patients by providing tidier and more attractive green spaces. It was funded through National Lottery and local grants, charitable funds and public health funding and is managed by volunteers who come together once a week to socialise and to get fit while undertaking gardening activities.
It is a real partnership approach, with The Conservation Volunteers, Cirencester Town Council, the Royal Agricultural College, Cotswold Volunteers and Play Gloucestershire’s Play Rangers coming together to make the event and the regular green gym a success.