VOLUNTEERS from the Chippenham Winkle Club are helping to make a sensory garden for patients with dementia at the community hospital.

Elizabeth Sexton, chairman of Friends of Chippenham Hospital, said they wanted to provide something "evocative" for patients.

They are looking for brightly coloured plants with strong scents, such as jasmine, honeysuckle, clematis or narcissi bulbs.

It has been designed by gardener Anna Tilbury, of Chippenham, who also made the Mulberry ward garden for people recovering from a stroke.

She was helped on Saturday by a group of about 10 men from the Winkle Club, a group of regulars at the Old Road Tavern who help out local charities.

The men, aged in their 20s to 50s, worked for six hours to clear foliage and put in borders.

Miss Sexton said: "It's really nice when young people do things.

"It was just grass and not very attractive, but it's going to be something special. The nursing staff felt it would be helpful. There are about 20 beds on the Cedar ward and about a third have dementia as well as another illness."

Brian Reid, vice-president of Chippenham Winkle Club, said: "Anna needed labour, rather than ploughing a lonely furrow. We're happy to help out, give them something nice to look at and smell, and many hands make light work.

"There's quite a lot of work still to be done, but we made a good start and we'll be going back in the next couple of weeks to finish it off."

Whitehall Garden Centre has given five plants and anyone else who would like to donate plants can call Miss Sexton on (01249) 660235.