Youngsters recovering from surgery at the Countess of Chester Hospital have an enchanting new mural to help them on their way.
The hospital received a grant to create the mural and some child friendly space for the children’s theatre recovery unit at the Countess for the benefit of children recovering from surgery.
Funding from The Williams Family Foundation based in Chester enabled The Countess Charity to carry out a makeover of the unit.
The trust explains the intention was to help make the experience, after surgery, a little bit easier for children at the hospital. The Countess Charity sought funding for improvements they wanted to make to the room where children wake up after they have been through surgery.
The foundation’s support has enabled the area to be totally refreshed with new colourful flooring, bay curtains and the ‘beautiful mural’ which is proving a welcome distraction and talking point for the youngsters.
The enchanting mural entitled The Magic Wood was created by artist Lucinda Turner.
Amy Sheppard at the foundation said: “We were delighted to be part of this project to improve the children’s theatre recovery area in the hospital. The space is now very child-focused and we think the mural looks fantastic.
“Hopefully the children coming around from surgery will be distracted by all the beautiful detail in the artwork giving them comfort in what can be a frightening time for them.
“It’s been a pleasure, as always, working with The Countess Charity and we look forward to working with them again soon.”
The mural that it replaced is said to have been lovely in its prime but it had become very old and tatty. Artist Lucinda, who had worked in the recovery department since 2002, offered to paint a new one.
She said: “I did it for the children and for my colleagues. I wanted the image to be magical, a doorway to another place.
“My aim was to create lots of varied character and detail in order for it to be a great distraction for the child patients as they wake up.
“I am glad to have given something back to a hospital that I have been treated in myself many times. I also hope it gives some pleasure to the extremely hard working staff.”
The Countess Charity says it is ‘very proud’ of the project which has been ‘a real team effort’.
In addition to Lucinda’s artwork, which was done at weekends and in her evenings, other staff on the unit carried out their own fundraising for the project.
Claire Hallett-Rorke at the unit said: “The mural provides lots of interest to distract children with magical characters including fairies and pixies and little creatures for the children to find while they are waiting for their parents and carers to arrive.
“It is lovely to have had the work done by an ex-member of staff.”
