TWO VOLUNTEERS have been rewarded after giving 25 years’ service to maintaining the gardens at the Primrose Hospice.
Millie Harries and Linda Babb were presented with a certificate and bouquets of flowers to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the charity before lockdown.
From planting the flowerbeds to organising other volunteers, the pair have ensured the hospice’s gardens look pristine all year round.
They began volunteering after reading a plea for help in a local newspaper in September 1995.
The pair, who originally met as teachers in Birmingham and worked together for 40 years, have given 2,000 days of volunteering to the hospice.
Millie, from Marlbrook, said: “We felt if you came here and saw dead leaves and dead plants that would be very depressing for somewhere like this which needs to be welcoming.”
Linda, from Cofton Hackett, added: “It is such a peaceful garden and people appreciate what we do.”
Over the years, the garden has changed dramatically having originally featured a piggery and vegetable garden.
Now it boasts a pond, a children’s sensory garden and is an oasis of calm for patients, families and staff to enjoy and is maintained by about ten volunteers.
Jo Wright, the Primrose’s volunteers’ manager, thanked the pair and described their dedication as ‘incredible’.
“We are so grateful to them and our team of almost 400 volunteers who give up their time to support the hospice.
“We couldn’t do what we do without them.”
David Burrell, Primrose Hospice CEO, said: “Primrose’s gardens are an oasis of calm for our patients and the families we support.
“It really makes a difference to them to be able to sit or wander and have a moment to relax in beautiful surroundings.
“We receive so many lovely comments about how well kept they are and this is down to Linda, Millie and the wonderful team of volunteers who work so hard in any weather to maintain them.”
