Sustainable Living Armidale will blitz the backyard of the Vickery family this weekend

Chris and Claire Vickery moved to town from Sydney in July of this year with their two children, Lexi and Josh.

Mr Vickery met the people at Sustainable Living Armidale through the community garden where he shared his story as a full-time carer for his wife.

“I told them what I wanted to do with the garden and the situation with Claire, we’re trying to get it established as something that’s sustainable,” he said.

After hearing their story Sustainable Living Armidale has organised members of the community to visit the garden this weekend to give it a face-lift.

Claire Vickery has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a progressive disease involving the degeneration of motor neurons and muscles.

As a result her mobility has been affected and her husband has had to quit his job to care for her full-time. 

“It is hard to look after the garden, we’ve got the care situation which means that I can’t work anymore but even with that we’re busy all the time so it’s hard to get out and do more structural stuff,” Mr Vickery said. 

Sustainability is at the top of the agenda for the Vickery’s, who hope to plant their own vegetables and reuse the tree-waste as mulch.

As a result of her condition Mrs Vickery spends a lot of time sitting by the window looking out at the garden.

“I really just want her to have something special to look at,” Mr Vickery said. 

For Mrs Vickery having a large garden for her children to run around in is the most important thing.

“It’s magic, they have responded so much to having their own playground essentially compared to having balcony space in Sydney, they love it and if you’ve got happy kids that are playing outside, well that’s half the battle isn’t it?” she said. 

The perma-blitz will take place this weekend at the Vickery’s home in Armidale.