Our team were delighted to attend recently the official opening of the Ty Hafan Memorial Garden which took place on Friday November 9th. We were absolutely delighted to have been involved with this project and have donated all our services to assist with the upgrading of this vital recreational area for the children receiving care at the hospice which is based in Sully, South Wales.
Ty Hafan is one of the UK”s leading paediatric palliative care charities and since 1999 the dedicated team have offered comfort, care and support to life-limited children and families throughout Wales so they can make the most of the time they have left together.
As part of the M4 Corridor Around Newport Scheme Costain/ Vinci JV reached out to Ty Hafan to offer their services to design and construct a new state of the art garden. Walters were delighted to be asked to help and act as a subcontractor completing the earthworks on a charitable basis.
Our team undertook the bulk earthworks to improve the grounds of the hospice garden and, in particular, allow for the construction of a wheelchair race track by creating a suitable plateau area within the hospice grounds. The finishing works were then completed by others using materials that were partially sourced by Walters to create a wonderful race track for all the children to enjoy.
The racetrack allows children to learn how to manage and control a wheelchair in a safe environment, allowing for different surface types and textures and to be able to deal with transitioning kerbs.
The Walters team also undertook additional earthworks to build a new viewing platform over the Bristol Channel and assisted with the construction of a new footpath. This footpath would form safe access for wheelchairs and all other users from this viewing platform to the new race track at the far end of the hospice grounds.
We were so inspired by this project that we contacted our local suppliers to ask if they would help by supplying additional plant and materials and we were delighted with the response.
The Memorial Garden is now complete and features an enchanted forest, outdoor shelters, edible planting for the children, sensory features as well as an interactive water feature for the placement of personalised memorial pebbles.
“We were delighted to be able to help and for our team to be involved in this project,” said Nick Rolfe, Contracts Director, Walters. “Ty Hafan is a wonderful charity which provides care and support to children and their loved ones and the new Garden provides a calm and tranquil environment for these families to reflect together and enjoy an outdoor space”
The new enhanced Garden will also provide more capacity for memorial events at the hospice with therapeutic and social features for families and the hospice staff to both enjoy.
To find out more about Ty Hafan click here