A STUNNING sea of ‘forget-me-nots’ has transformed the base of St Andrew’s Spire in celebration of a Worcester hospice.
More than 700 handmade flowers have been snapped up by supporters of St Richard’s Hospice in order to create the first ‘Celebration Garden’ in the Faithful City.
Residents are being encouraged to secure their own flower and celebrate someone or something special with one of the forget-me-not clusters, which they can later take home as a keepsake or gift.
Installed by volunteers on Saturday, August 13, the one-off installation will be on display until Monday, August 29 as one of the visual highlights of the Worcester Festival.
The hospice, which is based on Wildwood Drive, is hoping that sponsorship of the flowers will raise around £40,000 for hospice care in Worcestershire.
Fund-raising director, Tricia Cavell, said: “The flowers look stunning and we’ve had so many people tell us how much they enjoy seeing them here in the heart of Worcester. The garden is also a wonderful place to stop and reflect, celebrate or remember someone special.
“Lots of people have asked us about the risk attached to the flowers being in a public space, but we hope people will reflect that the majority of the flowers are in memory of people. We are trusting our community to respect the Celebration Garden.”
Sharon Randell, who commented on the hospice’s Facebook page, said: “It’s so lovely and very special for us as a family as it would have been my husband’s 61st birthday today and he passed away so peacefully in St Richard’s last October. We were able to sponsor some forget-me-nots in Ivor’s name to commemorate his birthday.”
Donors will be invited to pick a flower from the garden on Bank Holiday Monday (August 29) and collect from the hospice or via post after the installation is dismantled.
Visit www.strichards.org.uk/celebration-garden or call the hospice’s fund-raising department on 01905 763963T to secure a forget-me-not.
