Meet our volunteer gardeners who are supporting the Sue Ryder Grief Kind garden

David Jarman has been a volunteer gardener at Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice since he retired 15 years ago.

David said: “I liked the idea of a Grief Kind garden. We moved to a new home about 18 months ago but sadly we had only been there eight months when my wife Carol passed away. I’m on my own now so I have had my own experience of grief. I’m lucky that I have good friends around me. You don’t realise what it’s like until it actually happens to you. I think it’s the little things that you take for granted when someone is there that affect you most when you lose them.”

David values the time he spends helping out in the hospice gardens. He said: “A couple of people I know have been patients at the hospice. It’s rewarding to make the place nice and presentable for the patients and their families to spend time in. There is a lot of work to do there, but we try to keep on top of it and keep it looking tidy. I’m not an expert by any means but I have got to know the shrubs at St John’s and when is the right time of year to trim them. I’m more enthusiastic about gardening at the hospice than in my own garden!

I do watch Chelsea on TV, but I have never actually been to the show before, so I’m looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see what the Sue Ryder garden is like after seeing the pictures. When it comes back to St John’s it is going in a nice situation with open fields at the back. It will be something for us to really look after.”

Retired engineer Richard Weedon has been a volunteer gardener at Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice for three years.

“Sue Ryder cared for my mother when she was ill and that was 34 years ago. We always had a link to the hospice, but it wasn’t until I retired that I had the time to volunteer. As an engineer I had been pretty much working indoors on a computer so I thought it would be nice to do something outside in the fresh air. I suppose I could have started gardening anywhere but once you go through that experience of St John’s helping you and your family that stays with you, so it seemed a natural choice to volunteer at the hospice. I almost think it’s therapy for the volunteers, you get such satisfaction from it. It’s very rewarding.

“If I see just one patient sitting out and taking in the garden that makes it all worthwhile. We do get a lot of family members walking round the gardens when they are visiting or staying at the hospice. One gentleman told me that it gives him a bit of a break to have a walk in the garden.

It will be interesting when the Sue Ryder Grief Kind Garden moves to the hospice because we will then be dealing with the garden's maintenance and learning about new plants. I know the designer has chosen a theme of Bedfordshire lace and you can see why she has chosen the plants that she has to represent the lace work. When it transfers here it will get those lovely sunrises so it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the garden.”

We thank all the volunteers who will be helping out at the Sue Ryder Grief Kind Garden – from keeping it looking good during show week and talking to the thousands of visitors we’ll meet, to relocating and maintaining the garden for years to come at Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice.