The Princess Royal visited the Forth Valley Sensory Centre to open its new kitchen garden
A new garden which aims to help a community to embrace a healthy lifestyle welcomed a Royal guest this week.
The Princess Royal officially opened the new kitchen garden at the Forth Valley Sensory Centre on Wednesday (25 September).
Designed to be easily accessible, the garden has been developed as a community resource and will be helping local schoolchildren learn about sensory loss and healthy eating through a Flavour School initiative.
Forth Environment Trust, Central Scotland Green Network and Falkirk Council funded the garden and Flavour School project, which has been delivered by the centre and Forth Environment Link.
As part of the visit, The Princess Royal received a tour of the centre, which is unique in Scotland as a place where people with sensory loss, their friends, family and carers can come to get help, support and advice. Key to this are the centre’s many groups and classes, which are designed to build confidence, encourage new skills and provide great social occasions. The Princess met members of the braille group at the centre during her stay as well as a number of other centre users of all ages.
Forth Valley Sensory Centre manager Jacquie Winning said: “The braille group is one of our oldest groups and survives in the face of so much technology. It is a fantastic example of how people with sensory loss want to continue to enjoy those things many of us take for granted, such as reading, even if it means learning an entirely new way to do so.
“It was an honour to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to Falkirk and we were delighted she was able to officially unveil a plaque to commemorate the visit and the official opening of our Kitchen Garden. We hope this will become a fantastic community resource, introducing lots of people to gardening and fresh food as well as helping educate children about different senses and how to eat healthily. Produce will also be used in our social enterprise café and cooking classes for people with sight loss, literally food will travel just a few metres from garden to fork.”
During the visit, the Princess was introduced to representatives from some of the centre’s partners, including; NHS Forth Valley, Falkirk Council, RNIB Scotland, Action on Hearing Loss Scotland, Scottish War Blinded and Sign Language Interactions.
