PATIENTS, staff, volunteers and visitors got involved in a special collaborative piece of artwork which now adorns the walls of a hospice.

Due to the major refurbishment at East Lancashire Hospice, Rachel Shovelton, end of life care educator, came up with the idea of ‘the Wall Art Project’.

Patients, staff, volunteers and visitors adorned the walls with woodland, streams and creatures to brighten the corridors and disguise the mundane temporary walls.

The artwork also features positive messages and poems.

Rachel, who was the overseer of the project and a keen painter herself, said: “A number of temporary walls have gone up at the hospice and it doesn’t look very nice, so we did something about it.

“We asked the members of the Creative and Support Therapy (CaST) group what they would like to create and they mentioned woodland, streams, and creatures.

“You don’t have to be an artist to take part.

“The key thing was we wanted to get everyone involved.

“Staff and volunteers have been grabbing a paintbrush on their breaks and staying late, visitors took part in the ‘lend a hand’ drop in sessions where they made paint handprints for the leaves, and children visiting their relatives have made hedgehogs from leaves in the hospice garden.”

The hospice was given a helping hand from Nimtech, an award-winning social enterprise scheme partnered with Crown Paints in Darwen.

Rachel said: “We have had lots of positive comments from visitors, many saying they look forward to seeing what else has appeared.

“You don’t often get people looking forward to visiting the hospice.”