Hospice Garden Revamp Kicks Off “Make Southend Sparkle” Campaign

August 10, 2016 by Joanna

A garden for patients of a Southend hospice has been transformed thanks to the hard graft of 13 young volunteers.

Organised as part of the new Make Southend Sparkle Campaign, the volunteers from National Citizen Service beautified the garden and driveway of Fair Havens Hospice in Chalkwell with bedding plants supplied by the Council’s parks team.

Fuelled by drinks and snacks kindly donated by the Co-Operative Store on Sutton Road, the team moved on to clear weeds from a large area of block paving.

Make Southend Sparkle is a campaign facilitated by the Council with the aim of helping local residents, community groups and business get involved in making the Borough an attractive place to live, work and visit. National Citizen Service is a programme for 15-17-year-olds run during school holidays and combining adventure activity, skills and social action.

Cllr Ann Holland, Executive Councillor for Culture, Tourism and The Economy, said:

“It’s really encouraging to see young people getting involved in injecting some new life into a much-loved place of sanctuary for patients and families at Fair Havens Hospice .

“Southend is blessed to have some really beautiful green spaces and with more people contacting our Make Southend Sparkle team every day, Southend will hopefully be a shining example of what can be achieved when the community pulls together.”

Director of Care from Havens Hospices Helen Forster said: “We’re delighted with the work the young people have done in our garden. Many of our patients and families take great joy in enjoying the sunshine and flowers whenever the weather is nice and have been commenting how beautiful it is.

“The team has done a really good job and I’d like to thank them all and confirm that this little corner of Southend really does sparkle now.”

If you would like to get involved in making Southend a better place to live, work and visit, find @MakeSouthend Sparkle on Facebook

Photo: Volunteers from the National Citizen Service at Fair Haven, Southend.gov.uk