Jubilee woods in Dawley Bank, is a hive of activity at the moment as the Pickering Foundation are creating a memorial garden for those who have been through pregnancy and baby loss.
00:00So we're here in Jubilee Woods at Dawley Bank and we're with Sean Pickering. Hello, Sean.
00:04Hello.
00:04So, Sean, you're the man behind Pickering Foundation.
00:07I am.
00:08So, I guess, what is Pickering Foundation is my first question.
00:11Well, it's a page I've set up following the idea of wanting to deliver a baby memorial garden.
00:21Yeah. Why a baby memorial garden?
00:24So, last year, myself and my partner had a miscarriage and in doing so, we got to know about two charities, Love From George and Ada's Foundation,
00:32who are two charities who supply welfare boxes in the Princess Royal Hospital.
00:38Okay.
00:39And we got to know about them two charities.
00:41It's the two charities we supported at Christmas with our family Christmas lights, what we normally do.
00:48And when we went to their first coffee morning, the conversation was had about wanting to, it would be nice to have a baby memorial garden,
00:57because as it stands, there isn't one in Telford at all.
01:00Yeah.
01:00So, it gave me the idea of wanting to go away and get one delivered.
01:06So, we're here at Jubilee Woods.
01:07This wooden plaque here, this was here already and these were plaques that were put here as kind of tributes after the COVID, weren't they?
01:14They were, yeah, there's four of them in here already and they are COVID memorials.
01:20But it kind of works well, doesn't it?
01:22You've got your, you've put your planter there down there, that's all down with some fresh planting.
01:26And how much, many tons of stone have you moved already?
01:31Well, just this one path alone, you can see that's taken 10 ton already.
01:36Yeah.
01:37And you've got a few bags behind us.
01:39Yeah, we've got twice as much of that behind.
01:41Yeah, we've made a good start.
01:45We've only been here the last four weeks.
01:48And what about funding?
01:49Where's it all, kind of, who's paying for it all?
01:51So, that's the one bit what we've had to work really hard on.
01:56Yeah.
01:56Is, I've organised a couple of fundraisers which we had over the last couple of weeks,
02:01which we was able to raise 2,600 just for them two fundraisers.
02:06Wow.
02:06We've had support from local businesses, QA Kitchens, AST Flooring, Leaviers Limited and many more.
02:14Yeah.
02:15Who've supported us.
02:16And this is just the start of it.
02:20So, hopefully, fingers crossed, we can get more support from local businesses who can support us either financially or even with materials.
02:28Great stuff.
02:29Well, lead us down then, chap.
02:30We'll go and have a look where the memorial's going to be.
02:31So, Sean, the path leads us down to this area here, which was overgrown like this here.
02:40But you've had your mite in there.
02:42You've cleared it.
02:43Yeah, we've cleared it.
02:45It's took a bit of work.
02:46But, to be fair, we've done it pretty quick.
02:48Yeah.
02:49Literally four weeks ago, we couldn't even walk where we couldn't be standing.
02:52Yeah, yeah.
02:53So, give us the vision then.
02:54What will be here?
02:55What will this look like when it's all finished?
02:57So, hopefully, once it's finished, we're going to have the main memorial circle here.
03:02Yeah.
03:02And in the middle is going to be a big steel tree.
03:05And that tree is going to be the main memorial.
03:07So, the leaves on it are going to be like the plaques.
03:09Okay.
03:10So, what will be on the plaques then, like names and children?
03:13So, it will be the names of babies.
03:15Yeah.
03:15Babies and people's loved ones who they've lost.
03:17Yeah.
03:18And then there will be some benches around that main circle.
03:21We're going to have some raised beds, bedding areas as well.
03:24Yeah.
03:24So, it's just going to be a nice quiet space for people to come and remember their loved
03:29ones, have a place for their loved ones.
03:31Because this is kind of aimed at like people who suffer from pregnancy loss.
03:35Yeah.
03:35Up until like 12 months old.
03:38And it's just going to give them that place to come and obviously have something in their
03:43memory.
03:44Yeah.
03:44So, a nice peaceful place to come and just take some time out.
03:48So, you've got a volunteer day organised for this coming Saturday?
03:52Yeah.
03:53I've gone and chosen the artist day of the year.
03:55I was going to say, yeah, you're trying to finish them off, aren't you?
03:57Yeah.
03:58I obviously didn't realise it was going to be as warm as it has been this week.
04:02But, yeah, we have got a volunteering day this Saturday.
04:05If anyone wants to come along and join us on that, we will be obviously supplying with
04:08fresh books and stuff.
04:09Yeah.
04:10And, yeah, it'll be just nice for other people to get involved.
04:14So, if you had a magic wand, when would you hope for this to all be done and completed?
04:19Hopefully by the end of the summer.
04:21Yeah.
04:22But, the only thing is that the tree has got a long lead time on it.
04:27Yeah.
04:28So, that's not going to be ready until the end of the year.
04:30Yeah.
04:30But, we were thinking about other ideas of sticking something in place of that temporarily.
04:35Oh, I've got you.
04:35Just to mark where it's going to be.
04:36So, we can start the plaque process and we just transfer it onto the tree once the tree's
04:44here in place.
04:45Great idea.
04:45With regards to the main ground, hopefully it'll be done by the end of the summer.
