30 days of wild activities for Bolton care home residents

30 DAYS of wildlife activities have been taking place at a Bolton care home as part of a nationwide challenge to do something wild every day for a month.

The Wildlife Trusts set the 30 Days Wild challenge to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the natural environment.

Those living at Lever Edge Care Home, on Lever Edge Lane, Great Lever, have planted and picked flowers and herbs from their garden to make bath bombs and perfume, made daisy chains, been on an insect hunt, and watched animals in zoos around the world via live online video streams, among other activities.

Resident Margaret Goulden particularly enjoyed making perfume, which was named “Loving by Lever Edge”, and showed staff how it was done. She said: “It brought back memories of making rose perfume when I was a child.”

Bath bomb making was also a hit among the residents, as they experimented with them in a bowl of water, watching the reactions of different ingredients.

Resident Doreen Aspinall said: “I couldn’t believe how much they fizzed and the dried rose petals we put in them added a lovely surprise as they popped out.”

Alix Isherwood, activities coordinator at Lever Edge Care Home, said: “The ladies were all very excited to receive a little bottle of our homemade scent to keep in their handbags. We had lots of comments that the scent was lovely, delicate and fresh.

“Everyone has enjoyed getting closer to nature and spending more time outdoors.

“We recently raised some money selling t-shirts and selling ice-creams to staff and 30 Days Wild has inspired us to spend the money on a potting shed for our garden so we can spend more time outdoors.”