When Maggie’s cancer support centre in Cheltenham celebrated its new extension, it also took the opportunity to refresh the design and landscaping of its gardens.
A new Limestone Courtyard Garden has now been created with a Sorbus tree as its centrepiece, together with a fresh planting scheme of herbaceous plants and flowers ready to provide year-round colour and interest. New garden benches, lighting and an irrigation system have also been installed.
The garden project was made possible thanks in part to a £25,000 donation from Grundon and, during a recent visit to Maggie’s, Grundon Chairman Neil Grundon and his wife Derna took the opportunity to see the work for themselves.
First however, they joined fellow guests for a tour of the centre’s new extension, which provides additional space to allow Maggie’s Cheltenham to support many more people living with cancer, as well as family and friends.
“Maggie’s is such an important resource for local families and communities and it was an honour to be invited,” said Neil.
“As a family business, we are all about supporting and working with local communities, so this was a very special occasion for us and we were very impressed with the new facility.”
Neil Grundon
Chairman, Grundon
“By contributing to the garden redesign project and seeing the wonderful work of landscaper Dr Christine Facer, we are thrilled to be part of Maggie’s ongoing journey. The peace and tranquility of a garden, whether sitting amongst the plants or simply looking at them through a window, provides a daily reminder of the beauty of nature which is so important to each and every one of us.
Maggie’s Chief Executive Dame Laura Lee, DBE, who explored the garden with Neil and Derna, said: “We were very pleased Neil and Derna could join us on this special occasion to celebrate our new extension and say thank you to our donor community, all of whom play such an important part in enabling us to offer incredible support to those who need it.
“Our garden provides a place of rest and beauty all year round and we are extremely grateful to Grundon for its donation.”
Dame Laura Lee, DBE
Chief Executive at Maggie's
The new extension, which was made possible thanks to key supporter The Julia Rausing Trust, will offer expert psychological, emotional and practical support to more people with cancer, as well as family and friends, across the Cheltenham area.
Dame Laura continued: “We will now be able to offer an expanded programme of support so that even more people from across Gloucestershire will benefit from Maggie’s expertise and care at possibly the hardest time of their lives.
“Maggie’s is there for everyone who needs it, and we are free with no appointment or referral necessary.
“We know this makes a huge difference to helping people cope with their diagnosis – from getting ready for cancer treatment, help with potential side-effects, support after treatment, providing benefits advice or coping with advanced cancer.”
Because Maggie’s Cheltenham is less than five miles away from Grundon’s landfill operation at Bishop’s Cleeve, the project received the funding via the Landfill Communities Fund, a programme which enables grants for community and environmental projects within a 10-mile radius of landfill operations. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust distributes the landfill tax monies on behalf of Grundon.