People who live in Harmony Court in north Belfast this week came together to celebrate the refurbishment of their scheme. 

Clanmil has invested £207,000 at Harmony Court, an independent living scheme for people aged 55 years and older. The refurbishment work, which included painting of the outside of the building and all internal communal areas along with new flooring and furniture for the newly designed residents’ common room, was the final phase of work and followed on from full upgrades of the emergency fire alarm and lighting systems and the installation of a new three-storey lift.    

Residents were very involved in selecting the new decor, and spent time reviewing a mood board with a choice of colour palettes, fabric samples, design ideas and finishes.  

This week, residents welcomed Group Chief Executive Carol McTaggart and other Clanmil colleagues to the newly refurbished common room. Carol also had a tour of the garden which is all set to have a bumper crop of flowers and vegetables in the summer thanks to the natural fertilizer produced by a wormery donated by Belfast City Council. 

As well as the bright new interiors at Harmony Court, the people who live there can also enjoy spending time in the well-tended outdoor space, thanks to the efforts of gardening enthusiast, resident Cecil Millar.  

Cecil, who has lived at Harmony Court since 2001, was very keen to get a wormery to produce a natural form of fertilizer to nourish the plants, flowers and vegetables in the garden.  

Linzi Webb, who was Neighbourhood Services Officer for that area in 2021, asked the Council’s Environmental team if they could provide a wormery, and it was delivered in September last year, along with a supply of hungry worms! 

Cecil said the results have been fantastic: 

“I have always enjoyed gardening because it has so many benefits to your physical and mental health. It’s so relaxing to be out and about getting plenty of fresh air. I love to experiment with different plants herbs and vegetables. I have a small grape vine in the greenhouse, loganberries and rhubarb as well as potatoes and tomatoes. Getting the wormery from the Council means there’s now a good source of natural fertilizer for the plants and flowers here, and it’s a good way to recycle waste from the garden and kitchen.” 

Carol McTaggart Clanmil Group Chief Executive added: 

“We were so pleased to be at Harmony Court to view the wonderful garden that is so well cared for by Cecil and to officially declare the newly refurbished common room open.  Providing homes for people to live well is our main purpose at Clanmil and we strive to maintain those homes to a very high standard. I’m so happy to hear how much the people who live here enjoy their garden and I hope they’re as impressed as I am with how well the common room and all the interior spaces look now.  I hope they’ll also really enjoy spending time together in these lovely spaces.”

Watch this video to learn more about the garden