A Scunthorpe-based charity is set to benefit from the creation of a new garden after it received the biggest single business donation in its history from British Steel.
The new garden will give patients and their families at Lindsey Lodge Hospice an opportunity to spend time together in beautiful surroundings. For the first time it will also provide a dedicated area where bereaved families can go to remember their loved ones.
British Steel is investing almost £25,000 in the project from its Landfill Communities Funding scheme. In addition to this British Steel’s apprentices are working on a steel sculpture which will provide a focal point for the garden.
It is hoped eventually a gardening club will grow from the project and the facility will be accessible to local schoolchildren who wish to learn more about gardening. It will also have an area suitable for children to use when they are visiting loved ones at the Burringham Road hospice.
“The hospice provides excellent care for patients with life limiting conditions and the garden will be complimentary to this compassionate care and will also provide comfort to families after their loved ones have passed away,” said Compliance Manager and Community Steering Group member, Martin Welch.
“It makes us very proud to be able to invest in a garden transformation that will bring peace and harmony to people in our communities as they face some of life’s toughest challenges.
“And to have a steel sculpture designed and built by own apprentices as the focal point of the garden will be a great tribute to the relationship the steel industry has shared with the hospice over many years.”
The Landfill Communities Fund is a scheme which enables organisations operating landfill sites to invest a proportion of their landfill tax to supporting community and environmental projects. To apply for support from the scheme a community organisation must be located within 10 miles of a landfill site. Further information on eligibility criteria is available at www.entrust.org.uk/landfill-community-fund
British Steel’s scheme is administered on behalf of the company by the Environmental Body Mondegreen. Anyone wishing to find out if their project might be eligible for support should contact Mondegreen by emailing
angelapease@mondegreen.org.uk
British Steel’s Landfill Communities Funding scheme is part of the company’s wider Building Stronger Communities programme which supports the economic and social wellbeing of the communities in which it operates. Further information about this programme is available at
www.britishsteel.co.uk
The Scunthorpe steel industry’s relationship with Lindsey Lodge Hospice stretches back over many years. And in 2017 and 218 British Steel supported the charity as its Community Partner, raising £22,623 for the organisation.
Lindsey Lodge Hospice Chief Executive Karen Griffiths said: “We are extremely grateful to British Steel for granting us this funding for our new garden. This is a significant sum of money and means we will be able to totally transform the space to provide patients, families, visitors and members of the Lindsey Lodge team with a beautiful place to spend valuable time together and a peaceful solitary spot when they need space for reflection.
“We are also delighted to be working with the British Steel apprentices in creating a steel sculpture, which will be a lasting legacy of the strong relationship we have forged with the Scunthorpe steel industry over the past 26 years.”