Help us build a calm and peaceful space for end-of-life patients and their loved ones, for when time truly matters.
Every moment matters. Every donation counts.
Make time truly matter
When someone is dying, what often matters most to them is comfort and spending quality time with their loved ones – time that truly matters. Time to hold hands. Time to make decisions. Time to make lasting memories. Time to say goodbye. End-of-life care affects everyone going through it: the dying, the living and the bereaved.
But often, in hospital, there is no personal space for that quality time. The only place patients and their loved ones have is the ward, which is clinical, noisy and busy.
That’s why, Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity is launching this fundraising appeal to build a longedfor Time Garden at Ipswich
Hospital – a dedicated, peaceful space for when time truly matters. Somewhere accessible, beautiful and restful where minds will calm and time can stand still.
“The Time Garden at Ipswich is being created to provide a homely, comforting space, away from the busy hospital environment, so people facing the end of their life can spend time with those they love –somewhere time truly matters. This space will be somewhere for sensitive conversations, reflection and lasting memories, at a time when hope and positivity may feel lost. The Time Garden will feel like an escape from the ward areas. At Colchester, some have described the Time Garden as feeling miles away from the ward and even heavenly.”
Maxine Birchall, Clinical Project Lead for End-of-Life Care
Please help us support more patients like Mike to make the most of every precious moment
Helen is part of our end-of-life care team. Recently, the Time Garden at Colchester Hospital became deeply personal to her, when a lifelong family friend, Mike, became a patient. She explains the difference the Time Garden made to him in his final days.
“I always remember Mike in his garden – happy, at ease and pottering around with his plants and veg patch.
As a patient, when he got to spend time in the Time Garden with his beloved wife, children and grandchildren, he was so much more relaxed. It gave us the time and space to sit with him, share memories and just be together.
That experience showed me just how powerful the Time Garden can be and how much one is needed at Ipswich Hospital. For me, it’s a reminder end-of-life care is about so much more than medicine – it’s about honouring the person and giving them moments that really matter.”
The Time Garden gave Mike and his family a bit of normality and the comfort and compassion you simply can’t get in a hospital room.
Mike’s friend
Helen
Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity
The need
In the last days of life, quality time with loved ones is everything. Every minute needs to be focused on the comfort and wellbeing of the patient and those closest to them.
At Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity, we’re determined to improve end-of-life care to make every moment matter. To do this, we must be able to provide patients and their families with a homely escape for peaceful, private time. Somewhere away from the
clinical environment that supports them day and night. A dedicated space, just for them, with no constant beeps, no stark lighting, no rushing footsteps and no unwanted interruptions, only the comfort of home and calmness of nature.
While Colchester Hospital already has a beautiful, private, restful Time Garden, where time can almost stand still, Ipswich Hospital has no dedicated space. A Time Garden at Ipswich Hospital would enhance the current
The solution
Located close to the wards at Ipswich hospital, sits a secluded courtyard. With your help, it will transform into a brand-new dedicated space for our patients facing end-of-life, and their loved ones.
At its heart will be a spacious, glass-fronted wooden cabin, big enough for a hospital bed and a family gathering. It will be a homely escape, complete with soft comforting furnishings and an allimportant kettle, which feels a mile away from the hospital ward and brings the outside in.
Here’s why a Time Garden at Ipswich Hospital is needed now
facilities, creating space for compassion and comfort, at a time that can be so overwhelming for the living, the dying and the bereaved.
Quite simply, we want to ensure our patients and their loved ones are at the centre of everything we do. At the moment, with only clinical areas available, which are often anything but calm and mindful, it’s a huge challenge – which is why we need your help.
If, together, we can raise the funds needed, we can turn the neglected inaccessible pebbled ground into a beautiful and vibrant accessible garden rich in nature... where butterflies will dance and wild-flowers will sway.
• A Time Garden at Ipswich Hospital will provide a non-clinical, therapeutic, uplifting space, above and beyond what the NHS would usually deliver.
• It will be a private space where nature can have a powerful positive effect and end-of-life patients and their families can just ‘be’.
• It will be a place to share stories, listen to music and remember special moments.
• The Time Garden will be completely accessible and safe for all patients, including those in wheelchairs and those who are bedbound, so they can hear bees buzzing, smell the sweet scent of rain and feel the sun on their skin.
• Each season will bring its own beauty as the garden glows with gold in the autumn, glistens with frost in the winter, buds with promise in the spring and bursts vibrantly into colour in the summer months.
• The Time Garden will be a place where those who are important can spend precious time together, such as partners, children and pets, making it feel ‘normal’ and home-from-home.
• Special features like a Bluetooth sound system will enhance the space with music and traditional games and puzzles will provide fun and mindful activities.
• In addition to those receiving end-of-life care, the garden may also be made available to others experiencing loss at the hospital.
& Ipswich Hospitals
We must improve the experience of end-of-life and loss
From a poignant place for quiet contemplation, to a relaxed space that has become a wedding venue for couples cherishing every second, the Time Garden at Colchester Hospital is a lifeline every day. We must now give patients at Ipswich Hospital somewhere that will provide them with a dedicated space for quality time with their loved ones.
Help us build a Time Garden at Ipswich Hospital from the ground up
Time for the tightest hugs.
Time to say, ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘I do’.
Time for comforting cuddles with furry friends.
Time for difficult decisions.
Time to relax and reflect.
Time for the longest goodbyes.
Time that truly matters.
Plans for the Time Garden at Ipswich Hospital have already been approved and generous gifts have already helped secure half of the £600,000 needed for the build, for which we are truly grateful.
That leaves the final £300,000 left to raise through this appeal. Every pound will grow the fundraising pot, but building can’t begin until every penny is in place.
So please, dig deep to make it happen. Without you, it’s only a vision. But with your support, a year from now, the Time Garden at Ipswich Hospital will be a dedicated, peaceful space for end-of-life patients and their loved ones, where time truly matters.
Please
help us grow our fundraising pot now
This appeal is rooted in our local community. And it will take all of us to make it a success: supporters, patients, family, friends, hospital staff, fundraisers and local businesses.
Together, let’s build a Time Garden for the people of Suffolk to be proud of; a calm, private space where every moment counts.
Please get in touch
If you would like more information about our Time Garden Appeal, please contact:
The Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity Team
Telephone: 0300 770 1369
Email: charity@esneft.nhs.uk
Website: colchesteripswichcharity.org.uk
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