Paul, Mikey and Brett’s story

Great friends Paul, Mikey and Brett are sharing their place in Hull. They love their home and take pride in their amazing large garden that is full of home-grown vegetables. A gardener carries out the routine maintenance, and Mikey finds joy tending to the garden regularly. Next year, they are planning to create a larger vegetable patch. 

Every day is different, and the care staff from New Concept Care empower them to make their own choices.

“We all get on really well,” said Paul. “Brett moved in first, then Mikey, and I was the last one to move in. I knew Mikey already and got on with Brett straight away. It’s so much fun here and we really like the staff. We all have our own interests and do things together – we’ve had a few holidays too.”

Mikey explained, “We all love our garden. I’m out in it all the time and like looking after it. I mow the lawn, water the plants and we grow things. We’ve also put our old broken toilet in there and filled it full of flowers instead of throwing it away; it looks good and colourful.”

Paul, Mikey and Brett said, “Every year we grow vegetables in our garden. So far, we have planted beetroot, rhubarb, tomatoes, blackberries, strawberries, potatoes, and sweetcorn. It’s great watching them grow. This year, we have had a lot of potatoes.”

Paul said, “Next year, we are planning on having a large vegetable patch at the back so we can grow more things. My brother is going to rotavate the area for us. There are some hedgehog boxes out in the garden too and we feed all the birds. It’s lovely to hear all the birds singing and it’s beautiful when it’s sunny.” Brett said, “I like all the birds too.”

“We like to keep everything clean,” said Paul. “We do all the chores between us it just flows, and we do whatever’s needed. I clean downstairs and Mikey does upstairs, and Brett helps too. We all help out with the cooking, and when the vegetables in the garden are ready to pick, we cook these too; they are very tasty. We go shopping and put the bins out.”

Mikey explains, “I used to go to day centre and now I have time with staff, I really like them. Some of my favourite things are gardening, hoovering, being out and walking. I like to go to the Big Red Disco; we all go, it’s good.”

Paul said, “There are many things that I enjoy doing. I’ve got a job and work with an organisation who help people to find housing, and give advice and information. I really like working there and helping people.

I go out, playing pool, going to the pictures, for a walk. I enjoy watching football and go to see by brother too. We decide what we would like to do, and the staff help us, they do a good job. We have a laugh too, they all know us well and we get on.”

“Going swimming and bowling are a couple of my favourite things to do,” said Brett. “We all go out together sometimes too. I like wearing hats, and I’ve got lots of baseball caps in different colours. I like having fun. The TV programme Only Fools and Horses, really makes me laugh too.”