Sensory garden for children in full bloom

Men used to flicking levers in dockyard cranes and shifting cargoes on ships went back to manual labour and wheelbarrow pushing, bringing a neglected garden back to life for children to savour.

A month of physical exertion, much of it volunteered by local businesses, has transformed an outdoor courtyard into a sensory garden for children at the School of The Divine Child, in Cork’s Ballintemple. Sharing a campus with Enable Ireland, it caters for the educational needs of children aged four to 18, with physical and multiple disabilities.

“The school was designed in the 1960s, and a central feature was this courtyard with a very old sycamore in the middle, which dated back to the original Lavanagh House,” notes principal Patrick Harrington.