I am creating this crowd funding page to raise essential funds to renovate the gardens and grounds of St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham London. I aim to do this by raising funds to provide garden tools, bulbs, ever green plants, bird tables and feed, sculptures, structures and statues and a tool shed.

This incredible place serves 5 boroughs and sees over 6,500 patients in a year. They provide invaluable services to those at the end of their life and also to young adults with life limiting conditions and children who have recently lost their parent, who are often frightened and bewildered and in need of comfort. The gardens are a place for the patients, family members and staff to seek solace and to recoup and recover during some of the most difficult and darkest times in their lives. They also provide quiet spaces for therapy to be carried out, and for confidential conversations to take place. Patients at the end of their life are often taken out into the gardens in their hospital beds and wheelchairs, to experience being in nature and to gain valuable peace and relaxation away from the medical wards.

In October 2017, a lady called Belinda became a volunteer in the gardens, following the loss of her life partner. Up until then, the gardens were maintained, but not really loved. She had experienced the peace and solace that these gardens provided for her during those difficult moments and wanted to create a space that could transport the visitor to a different place, a place of calm and tranquillity. Her vision was to provide colour in the gardens all year round to ensure that those facing darker times were greeted with colour.

What initially started out as a few hours volunteering, has turned into a full time role with a strong mission to make the gardens vibrant and to provide a warm welcome to all coming to the hospice. The gardens are not currently in receipt of any formal funding and so she has had to find donations of bulbs and pots and other essential equipment to do this amazing work.

Although she has done an incredible job in finding some of the equipment and plants, her vision is that the garden can offer so much more. She has a team of volunteers working with her, and they need tools, a place to store the tools and more plants to ensure the garden has something to offer patients and all the visitors to the outdoor spaces, something in bloom all year round.

I have been deeply moved by her commitment to the garden and to the experiences of those visiting the gardens, that I felt compelled to help her achieve her vision.

Please give what you can, and please share this page to help improve the lives of many others going through the darkest times.

From small acorns, tall oak trees grow.