Our guest blog is from Mamta at Flower Power, telling us all about her social enterprise that uses flowers to bring positive change to people’s lives.
Flower Power York is a local social enterprise, ethically and sustainably growing beautiful seasonal flowers in Poppleton. We use our flowers to bring positive change to people’s lives, addressing loneliness and creating friendships through creative workshops and projects.
Flowers make us happy!
There is something very therapeutic about growing from seed, nurturing, and connecting with nature. That’s why we have made it our mission to grow a whole load of happiness and share it with our community and wildlife.
Through our flower workshops, people have the opportunity to learn new skills, make friends, inspire and build confidence bringing stimulation for the mind and body. This helps reduce loneliness, and boosts mental and physical wellbeing.
Individuals at Carecent engaged in a sensory experience with flowers.
“With little or no possessions, it is dehumanising to be stripped of your ability to give. Flower Power York have enabled them to ‘give’ their posies as gifts, restoring a simple human right.”
Carecent Manager
Our flowers invoke nostalgic memories and connections helping people smile and heal.
“I love the smell of these daffodils – they remind me of my mother.”
82 year old living with dementia remembering her own mother
We’ve recently delivered a pop up posy making workshop at Kyra as part of International Women’s Week and British Science Week, using flowers to inspire and engage women in science.
Next week will see us join forces again with Musical Connections at their weekly music groups for vulnerable and older people at risk of social isolation. Using our glorious spring blooms, two groups will make table decorations for the 10th Anniversary celebration at the National Centre for Early Music. The simple jam jar posies will feature messages from participants about what Musical Connections means to them.
“The tactility of the project meant that the participants were fully engaged, even if they had dementia. At the beginning I could see them feeling and smelling all the flowers – something they probably don’t get to do very often now. Having them sitting round tables getting creative was ideal for everyone to get chatting and they were proud of the displays they produced.”
Session leader, Musical Connections
We do amazing things with our flowers to raise income, with all our profits fed back into supporting our work with lonely, socially isolated, disadvantaged and vulnerable people.
With every workshop we run, individuals are empowered with the gift of giving back to a deserving group or cause. We use every bit of the flower, harvesting the seeds and even using them as spices for our spice cookery workshops.
If you would like to learn more, get involved or make a donation, we would love to hear from you – please email us and follow us on: Instagram/Facebook @flowerpoweryork.
