Our residential care home gets a makeover
Over the past four months, our Merryfields Short Break service has had the pleasure of having Interior Designer Emily Blyth working to help transform their residential rooms.
Merryfields is an Action for Children service in Buckinghamshire, offering overnight residential short breaks for children with learning disabilities.
Emily’s placement at Merryfields is a fully paid secondment, funded by the John Lewis Partnership, who each year offer their Partners the opportunity to work for a charity for up to six months, through their Golden Jubilee Trust.
We asked Emily some questions to tell us more about herself and about her placement:
Working together for children in care
"Prior to this secondment, I have been working for John Lewis as a home design stylist. I love my job as an interior designer, bringing joy to customers by helping them create their dream home."
"In May 2023, I took part in a volunteer painting day at Action for Children's Merryfields Centre through work organised by our Community Liaison Coordinator, Dawn."
"I really enjoyed our session getting to know more about the charity and what they do at Merryfields. After finding out that Merryfields is a respite centre for disabled children, I instantly felt a connection with their purpose and values as my brother James, who is a big part of my life, has Autism.
"I gained a real appreciation for all the hard work and amazing care the staff at Merryfield’s give to both the children and their families and was delighted to learn that the JLP Golden Jubilee scheme could enable me to support them on another level."
Once my secondment was approved by John Lewis, I had some specific objectives in mind:
- Planning, designing, and implementing a new sensory room, as well as updating and decorating 14 residential rooms to create themed bedrooms for children and young people.
- Actively contributing to the delivery of various activities for children and young people.
"I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. I truly felt like part of the family and found my experience fulfilling and rewarding. I am very pleased with my progress over the four months and successfully completing my projects above and beyond my expectations as four months was a tight time frame for two very ambitious projects."
"A large part of my placement was getting to know the children, learning what they like and dislike and what they would like to gain from their new bedrooms."
It was lovely to develop strong connections with the young people and provide personal room themes to make their experience staying at Merryfields feel even more special and like a home away from home.
"It was definitely seeing happy smiling faces of the children when they got to see their new bedroom as well as seeing them enjoy their new sensory room."
"Something I’m particularly proud of is a room I for a child who has seizures. I created a calming green misty forest scape for him."
"Staff told me that the colour green in the sensory room calms him and eases his symptoms, which I wanted to emulate in his bedroom."
"I have found the overall experience very rewarding, fulfilling and grounding. I’m proud that I managed to complete such a large project in just four months."
It's been a unique, once in a lifetime experience which has helped so many people. I've found that helping within the community grounds you and makes you feel much more fulfilled.
Emily continues to support Action for Children
Since leaving her placement, Emily’s support of Action for Children has continued. Emily brilliantly took on the South Coast Ultra challenge in September to raise money for Merryfields. The money raised could help update the furnishings in the children’s bedrooms.
Head over to Emily's Just Giving page to donate
