UKSE Funds Garden of Hope Project to help Tees Families

Beautiful hand-painted steel butterflies are giving Teesside families who have lost a loved one to suicide a lasting memorial, thanks to a special Garden of Hope project funded by UKSE, the Tata Steel business support subsidiary, with a £2,500 grant from its Community Support Fund.

UKSE was looking to support the Headlight Project, founded in memory of local businessman Russ Devereux who died in May 2018. Headlight aims to reduce the number of deaths by suicide by providing a range of therapies to those bereaved by suicide and preventative education and training in the Tees Valley area.

The Garden of Hope project has provided weatherproof butterflies for children and families to choose or paint themselves at a number of special workshops. They are personalised with the name of their loved one.

Currently on display in the grounds of Middlesbrough’s Ormesby Hall until the middle of July, families will then take their butterfly home, along with wildflower seeds, to create a lasting memorial in their own garden. A virtual Dedication Wall will also be created on the Headlight Project’s website.

Peter Taylor, UKSE’s Business Development Manager, said: “We are very glad that we have been able to support the valuable work that the Headlight Project does and this Garden of Hope project in particular.

“Our Community Support Fund is there, alongside our financial and other support for businesses, to help organisations that improve the lives of people in our steel communities. We have been able to provide more than £1.2m of funding in the region since the Fund began.”

Support also came from local steel company Lionweld Kennedy who made the butterflies with the help of two of their young apprentices. Retired teacher and artist Jane Braithwaite helped with the design and the workshops and local families who have used Headlight’s services, alongside students from Prior Pursglove, Stockton Sixth Form College and the Glowsticks project were involved in decorating the butterflies.

Anne Cullum, Headlight Project CEO, said:- “As well as giving families a lasting memorial, the Garden of Hope has also been a valuable way for them to come together and share a positive experience.   A lot of those who took part chose to use bright colours for their butterflies as a sign of hope on their journey of loss. We have created fifty butterfly memorials and families are visiting Ormesby Hall to see the display.

“We are so grateful for the support we get from volunteers and local businesses. UKSE coming to us to offer generous funding for a project enabled us to create this beautiful Garden of Hope.”

For details of  UKSE’s Community Support Fund and its help for businesses with finance and workspace see ukse.co.uk.

PICTURE CAPTION:   Peter Taylor of UKSE opens the Headlight Project’s Garden of Hope at Ormesby Hall  with (from left) Project Lead Katie Devereux, artist Jane Braithwaite and Anne Cullum, CEO with some of the families who created butterfly memorials to a lost loved one.