Musicians, poets, volunteers and hundreds of people of all ages rocked up at the Bishop House Garden to help the city’s Age UK Norwich celebrate its 80th birthday year.
If you missed it … don’t worry, the charity’s party runs all year!
There will also be other chances to visit this four-acre oasis said to date back to the 12th century.
For Bishop Graham and his wife open it on regular summer Sundays to support local charities.
Two hidden treasures, then … both in bloom!
Among the Persicaria runcinata, Ficus Brunswick and Schefflera taiwaniana, Age UK revealed its own extraordinary variety – activities from advice to hardship grants, from health coaching to clubs and trips, from craft groups to walking football, from befriending to hydration campaigns and lobbying MPs.
The garden and the charity alike seem to flourish on sheer faith and energy.
On June 1, the event was spiced with children’s games and quizzes, cake and music.
Part of the Age UK magic is to work by enthusiastically encouraging partnerships … with other charities (check out the Norfolk and Waveney Later Life Provider Network), for example, or with business.
Via that LLPN, it has been calling for change on public transport.
And it now wants to improve shopping access for older people.
In a pioneering Mall Walk on June 11, Castle Quarter will open two hours earlier than usual – offering the elderly a chance for leisurely window shopping, with all facilities open (toilets etc).
Age UK’s Denise Troughton told me: “There can be so many barriers for older people.
“This is a beginning.
“Working with Castle Quarter, we hope to make it regular later in the year.”
That second initiative has happened through a partnership – Age Friendly Norwich – with Norwich City Council.
Age UK Norwich is a Tardis – somehow bigger on the inside.
So is the Bishop’s House Garden.
While visitors were looking for the cake, there’s a good chance they’d have wandered past a cloud-pruned yew, a rose and hosta walk, a wildflower labyrinth with a 400-year-old pear tree or a jungle walk through towering exotic plants.
A garden can uplift us.
So can good local charities.
Poet Tony Amis offered the crowd these words:
“A simple smile, the hand held tight
“Can turn the grey into a sunny sight.”
Amen to that.