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An outdoor space at Peterborough City Hospital has been given a £40,000 transformation to provide a beautifully designed functional and reflective garden for staff.

The Staff Reflection Garden, funded by North West Anglia Hospitals’ Charity, received its official unveiling this week – when staff from across the Trust were invited to see for themselves the culmination of many months of work.

Carefully redesigned to include a range of natural health and well-being focal points, as well as a number of practical elements, the refurbished and much-improved space is accessible to all staff.

Features include all-weather seating, new planting and a specially-commissioned sculpture by local metal artist Jeni Cairns to remember Trust colleagues who have passed away.

The sculpture gives staff the opportunity to hang handmade metal leaves to it, engraved with their colleagues’ name in their memory.

The garden project – designed by the Trust’s lead volunteer gardener Jennie Grainger – has brought the Peterborough staff garden in line with those currently completed at Stamford & Rutland Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon.

The new green space was opened in a short ceremony led by Trust chair, Professor Steve Barnett; Chief Executive Officer, Hannah Coffey and Chaplain Petros Nyatsanza on 23 April 2025.

Chief Executive Officer Hannah Coffey said: “It is wonderful to see the results of such amazing creativity by our volunteer gardener Jennie Grainger and sculpture artist Jeni Cairns.

“We feel very lucky to have this area of tranquillity in the heart of our busy hospital and I am sure our staff feel the same. It is important to us to remember colleagues who are sadly no longer with us and create a lasting memory to them in the garden.”

North West Anglia Hospitals’ Charity Project Manager, Philip Fearn said: “The garden is absolutely stunning, and we are thrilled that so many colleagues were able to join us for the official opening.

“We had some feedback from staff about the previous memorial garden and took on board their thoughts about how this could be elevated to make it not only a reflective space to remember colleagues who have passed away, but also creating a beautiful, tranquil and functional space.”

 

Picture caption: Trust volunteer gardener Jennie Grainger and sculpture artist Jeni Cairns, centre, with Professor Steve Barnett, Trust Chair, Hannah Coffey, Chief Executive, and Petros Nyatsanza, Chaplain.