The knitted garden that helped me grieve
KNITTING is well known for its therapeutic benefits.
For Clare Young, the pastime has helped soothe her broken heart after her husband Ken died of bowel cancer at the age of just 47.
And it also inspired her to create this show-stopping garden for the Royal Horticultural Society – made entirely from wool.
Mrs Young, a former GP receptionist, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety after her husband’s death in August 2015. But she found solace in knitting after a psychologist suggested it could alleviate her symptoms.
Yesterday the fruits of her labour were unveiled at the RHS’s Malvern Spring Festival. Her piece – the Work of Heart Knitted Show Garden – features a bed in a hospice garden, with knitted grass, flower pots and Creations: A woollen fruit bowl and flower pot. Right, ht the th couple’s l ’ wedding ddi d day walls. She put in gruelling 12-hour shifts to out any more.’ When Mrs Young, 51, first complete the work and enlisted the help of picked up her knitting needles, she started 450 knitters worldwide who sent her 40,000 by producing knick-knacks for the Sue woollen flowers and hearts. Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice in
Mrs Young, from Gloucester, said: ‘It’s Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, which cared almost like we’ve brought the outside into for Mr Young in his final weeks. She was the room of a hospice patient who can’t go invited to create a work for the RHS festival,
Ywhich runs until Sunday, after pictures of some of her knitted figures went v viral on social media.
Mrs Young and her husband were divorcees c who met online 14 years ago. Mrs Young already had four children, and her partner two. They got engaged in 2007 but hadn’t y yet married when Mr Young, a fruit and veg wholesaler, was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in 2013. The couple wed in April 2014 and Mrs Young gave up work to care for her spouse. Her artwork aims to recreate the calm of the hospice where Mr Young spent his last three weeks – and raise money for it.
Of her fundraising campaign, Mrs Young said: ‘My husband should’ve been 50 in June, so I set myself an ambitious target of raising £50,000. I knew I needed to knit for a cause, which is why I chose the hospice that took care of my husband.’
To donate, visit: www.justgiving.com/ work of heart garden