Making an entrance County Durham style!
“It was just to make it more appealing to our lads & when their families visit” Bev Hutchinson, Oaklea
A change is gonna come – and wow – they did it with style! People Oaklea support in County Durham wanted to refresh their surrounds.
Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye” “The glory of the garden” Rudyard Kipling
Take a seat while we show you round…
A group of adults we support in Brandon near Durham, were discussing about making the yard entrance more appealing when anyone is visiting.
Wall to wall joy
Well they really went for it! See if you can spot some well known images of the North East!*
Bev Hutchinson, Team Manager in Brandon: “Staff supported the customers to prepare the wall with lining then they attached the timber lats to the wall and treated the lats with oil. Customers were supported to plant flowers and plants to the wall boxes and the pots around the yard.”
*Bev was too modest to mention that one of the Oaklea team at Brandon has graphic design skills! (the team collective works…..)
Bev adds: “Our Customers were supported to make choices about pictures to be painted on the wall of different areas they have visited on activities within the North East. They were then supported to put on a base coat of paint before a staff member created the wall art. They are really pleased with the finished result/outcome of the yard.”
The real test – Making the most of our sizzling new space!
A window box on the world – and goals reached!
“Our customers/Tenants at Brandon discussed about making their garden nice for the summer with new items of furniture and planting new flowers this was their wishes and part of the goals. I think you must agree the garden looks beautiful the customers were supported to achieve their goals.” adds Bev
This all forms part of Oaklea’s commitment to the “Seven keys to citizenship”
This can take many forms from improving where you live to ensuring those we support make the most of life…some recent examples: Ella & Mark enjoy a trip to the cinema in Barrow; Alice on a break to Blackpool and Alan with Oaklea staff enjoying time out at a local pub!
Postscript (January 2026) Artistic licence update:
Well sadly our very own ‘Hillside Banksy’ -as he is known – the mighty Terry Tex-Gibbon is not so well at the moment and gave us an update from hospital on his exploits at Brandon.
“The murals and artwork took a whole year to achieve with help and influence from those we support. The initial message and idea I had for a composition was of looking through windows on the wall itself, as if looking through the eyes of our customers. Imagery created was inspired from chatting to the customers of memories of places been too. And the idea came about of going on a journey with a different scene on each window. Starting in the Dales at one side leading to the coast at the other with countryside, city and valleys between.
I had a the basic idea of mapping it out kinda like my pantomime drops I do (Editors note -they need to be seen to be appreciated -they’re awesome!), under a beautiful blue sky so it could be seen in all weathers. Trying to turn a cold grey drizzly day look and like a feel wonderful summers day. Not sure if it works at all lol!.
Though I had the initial composition, the fun part was adding afterthoughts and last minute extras from our customers because as the painting progressed it inspired them to give more input…
One particular evening as I was painting and chatting to one of our customers we noticed that it got really dark around us and suddenly we heard this whoosh whoosh sound. We looked upwards and were in awe of a hot air balloon passing above us. Excited the customer I was with rounded up everyone at the house to come outside, all waving at the people in the basket and we watched it until it drifted off off and away into the distance…. Heck of course that had to be squeezed in the composition somewhere last minute lol!”
What an inspiration Tex is! Working in care – making a real difference one brushstroke at a time….or several!
