Hoppiness at St Monica Trust
Hoppiness at St Monica Trust
The St Monica Trust first opened its doors to residents in 1925 at what was then the St Monica Home of Rest on Cote Lane. One hundred years of St Monica Trust seemed like something worth raising a glass to. To celebrate this, we want to grow hops and brew our own centenary beer, co-produced from beginning to end with our residents.
The Hoppiness project is an exciting collaboration between St Monica Trust, Alive Activities and local brewers to promote healthy ageing by supporting people to live their best lives, maintaining independence and maximising well-being.
Our goal is to grow, tend and harvest the hops – from beginning to end – with residents of all abilities, especially those who are living with dementia. The centenary beer will be brewed from hops grown at our retirement villages and care homes. Residents will also be involved in touring local breweries and marketing the finished product, with a celebration at the end of the project with a traditional Wassailing.
History of the Hoppiness project
The Hoppiness project is a dementia-friendly program, originally started by Alive Activities, which grows hops in care homes.
What activities are involved?
The activities involved in this experience include sensory stimulation, such as singing pub songs, smelling the hops, planting the hops, and, where appropriate, tasting beers.
Additionally, there is a focus on reminiscence, encouraging participants to think back to happy times spent in the garden, at the pub, and other cherished places. These activities are designed to engage the senses and joyful recollections, providing a meaningful and immersive experience.
At St Monica Trust, residents with and without dementia will be working together on this project.
The project overview
The project involves gardening sessions at our retirement villages, fundraising and raising awareness for dementia, and researching the link between dementia and reminiscence through sensory activities. It also includes workshops for naming, branding, and marketing the beer, as well as visits to local breweries to learn about the brewing process and choose a brewing partner.
Co-production workshops
Co-production workshops will be held in our retirement villages and care homes, giving all our residents the chance to influence how our centenary beer will taste, what the brand and packaging could look like and how we market and sell our future brews.
- Garden House & Cote Lane (joint session): Wednesday 3 September, 2.00pm-4.00pm
- Monica Wills House: Thursday 4 September, 10.00am-12.00pm
- Charterhouse: Wednesday 10 September, 10.00am-12.00pm
- The Chocolate Quarter: Wednesday 10 September, 2.00pm-4.00pm
- Westbury Fields: Friday 19 September, 10.00am-12.00pm
- John Wills House: Friday 19 September, 2.00pm-4.00pm
Hop harvesting schedule
- Cote Lane: Friday 12 September, 10.00am-12.00pm
- Sandford Station: Wednesday 17 September, 2.00pm-4.00pm
Hopsfest at Cote Lane
We were thrilled to host HopsFest, our very own mini festival at Cote Lane to celebrate the launch of our centenary beer, Hundred Not Out, on Saturday 18 October. This project is a collaboration with Alive Activities and supported this year by local brewer, Wiper and True, to mark 100 years of St Monica Trust.
The centenary beer was brewed from hops planted, grown and harvested by residents living in the Trust’s retirement villages and care homes, as part of Hoppiness Brews.
A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to making the beer a reality, including Alive Activities and Wiper and True, plus so many of our residents and their families, colleagues and volunteers.
Our partners
How can people contribute?
The Hoppiness Project is open to St Monica Trust residents and their families, colleagues and volunteers. No prior experience in gardening or brewing is necessary. Key areas we need support include:
- Tending to the hops
- Supporting people in wheelchairs and people with dementia to get involved
- Helping to raise funds and awareness for the project
- Helping us to brand, market and sell the beer we aim to produce
Adopt a hop
Our flourishing communities at Sandford Station and Cote Lane have recently planted 24 hop plants each. Now we need residents, colleagues and volunteers to ‘adopt a hop’ and ensure they are watered, weeded and looked after to help secure our centenary beer!
Can you help us to help the hops, support people living with dementia to get out and visit them, and do some very light gardening on your schedule?
Interested? email us at: hoppiness@stmonicatrust.org.uk to ‘adopt a hop’ and get involved.
Growing Connection: caring for a hop brings people together, one watering can at a time.
Flexible Commitment: choose weekly or monthly visits; we provide the watering cans, you provide the loving care (and water)!
SMT Centenary: celebrating 100 years of care and support, culminating with a centenary beer in October.
Dementia Friendly: activities are designed so everyone can take part safely and meaningfully.
If you would like to get involved, please email:
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100 Years. 100 Good Ideas.
In the last two months, we have been looking for 100+ good ideas on how we can support more people - in our communities and beyond – to live healthy, independent lives as they grow older. This includes our colleagues and residents today, but also future generations and our wider communities (via our Charitable Foundation). Submissions closed on 5 March 2025. An enormous thank you to everyone who submitted their ideas. In total, we received over 250 fantastic ideas, with contributions from colleagues, residents, charity partners, local universities and many more.
