A Garden for James

Osborne helped to create a safe, secure and stimulating environment for James who lives in Portsmouth, with national children’s charity WellChild. The full on, two day DIY SOS programme was a great challenge.

The Helping Hands initiative is the third project that Osborne has worked on in support of WellChild, who helps seriously ill children and their families across the UK.

James, aged 12, who lives at home with his parents near Portsmouth, suffers with a rare condition called Angelmans Syndrome which affects his nervous system. With no speech and unable to sign, communication is limited as is James wheelchair access. Our aim was to create an accessible and safe garden for James to enjoy – with a splash!

With amazing summer sun, the Osborne team set to work by removing the original turf to lay fake grass, providing James an all-weather space to crawl around. An important part of the brief was to design a water feature as James loves to hear the splash and touch. This was created using storage boxes mounted into a handcrafted wooden tray at a low level to enable James to reach.

Bruce Williams, Senior Site Manager at Osborne, said ‘Whilst a tight programme to turnaround in just two days, it was a superb team effort and to be able to see James enjoy it, was the icing on the cake.’

“Our thanks go to the hard working volunteers from Osborne for taking part in our Helping Hands project for James and creating a fantastic garden for him and his family to enjoy. WellChild’s Helping Hands projects create brilliant gardens and bedrooms for seriously ill children all over the UK helping to improve the quality of life for families.”