8 Jul 2024 Community

A beautiful afternoon in The Kirkwood Garden’s

On Saturday the 6th of July people from across Kirklees joined us at our site in Dalton to attend The Sunflower Garden Party. 

It was lovely to see so many people taking advantage of the summer sunshine and joining us at our new event, The Sunflower Garden Party.

Last Saturday, guests were greeted by bright smiles from staff and volunteers and the beautiful bloom of The Kirkwood Gardens. Over the last few months The Kirkwood's dedicated volunteer gardening team have been doing a brilliant job preparing our gardens in anticipation of The Sunflower Garden Party.

Throughout the day, families and friends indulged in scrumptious cakes, a freshly cooked BBQ, engaging garden games and stalls, meeting magnificent birds of prey, and enjoying fantastic entertainment from the Wisteria Quartet, Beaumont Music Academy, and Supertram.

Margaret, who attended The Sunflower Garden party with her grandson said: "What a great event, this is the first time we have been to an event here at The Kirkwood, it's lovely to see so many people here having fun. I can't believe how beautiful the gardens are, what a special place.

In addition to the entertainment and tasty treats, attendees could also collect their dedicated sunflowers. Our Sunflower Memories Appeal has offered people a beautiful way to honour and remember their loved ones for the past eleven years.

Jill who collected her dedicated Sunflower at this year’s Sunflower Garden Party said: “My sunflowers are in Memory of my dad Donald, and my brother Michael, who would have been 71 today.

“I am here with my mum, and I didn’t tell her I had made the sunflower dedication, so when she saw my dad’s name on one of the sunflowers, she was so happy, especially because we've always supported The Kirkwood.

Also attending the Sunflower Garden Party was Anne, who made a sunflower dedication in memory of her husband, Barry: “I think The Kirkwood is a wonderful place. Barry was in here for 10 days, and everyone who looked after him worked so hard, they were there day and night making sure he was comfortable.

“I have never seen such a beautiful place. It’s nice to come back to the hospice sometimes, especially at events like this when it’s busy and full of smiles.

Events Manager Rachael Savage reflected on the afternoon saying: “What a fantastic afternoon it has been, The Sunflower Garden Party has been really well received, a big thank you to all the volunteers who helped to make the event such a great success. Also, thank you to everyone who joined us in the gardens.

“The Sunflower Garden Party shows our connection to the community and it's great that we have incorporated The Sunflower Memories Appeal into this bigger event. It's important to give people the opportunity to remember loved ones in this great way and I'm pleased we gave people that opportunity to do so again.”

A huge thank you to everyone who attended The Sunflower Garden Party on Saturday. We hope you all had a lovely afternoon.