More than £15,000 raised to the memory of a little girl from Gayton who drowned on holiday is to pay for a new garden at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The palliative daycare garden at the hospital’s Macmillan Cancer Care and Treatment Centre will contain a plaque in honour of six-year-old Megan Thrower.
A cheque for £15,700 was presented to palliative daycare sister Teresa Brown at Gayton Social Club on Sunday by Megan’s mother Debbie, accompanied by those who have raised funds over the past year.
The money was raised on behalf of charity Megan’s Challenge. Ms Brown said the new garden would include benches, a patio, and a range of pots and plants, including buddleia to attract butterflies.
She said: “We always used to have a garden in the palliative unit, but the extension of the treatment centre means we are having to move and therefore need a new garden.”
“We want the garden to reflect the kind of person Megan was and the kind of things she liked doing, and there will be a plaque dedicated to her on one of the benches.
“It’s very important for our patients to have somewhere in nice weather for them to sit and chill out and have a bit of me-time. There’s a lot going on here so for them it’s conducive to their care to have a nice restful area where they can go to sit and get some fresh air.
“Megan’s Challenge have raised a lot of money for us, and we’re extremely grateful, so we want to make it as nice as we can.”
Any money left over after the garden has been completed in the spring will pay for new equipment and games for the ward.
Megan died in October 2010 when she drowned in a swimming pool while on holiday with her family on Gran Canaria.
The money is the total raised from the charity’s Three Peaks Challenge in June and a summer event at Gayton Social Club, as well as some of the donations from an Arctic dog sled challenge.
Debbie said: “We want to thank all the people who donated funds or took part in the challenges – the continuing support we’ve received means a lot to us.”
To donate see www. meganschallenge.co.uk
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