New Arts Award for the Maggie's Centre, Edinburgh.
We are delighted to announce we have recently set up a new arts award with the Maggie’s Centre at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. Like all the Maggie’s centres across the country, this one is a haven for anyone going through cancer treatment and for those caring for them. As one centre user described it: ‘When you walk through the door at Maggie’s, it literally feels like a huge hug.’
Each year our award will fund arts-based activities for centre users. The inaugural award, set up during the pandemic, funded a beautiful new bench for the garden.
The bench was designed in-house at Maggie’s and is made from Iroko wood. Iroko is a teak-like wood from the West Coast of Africa. This wood seems especially appropriate for this particular bench as it is believed to have healing properties, with the bark and sap often used in herbal remedies for various ailments. Research has revealed the wood has numerous properties that could have medicinal use. On a symbolic level, the Iroko tree, with its ability to withstand harsh conditions, is thought to represent endurance, durability and protection.
Amy Robertson, the centre’s fundraiser, already has exciting plans for our next award. This time, the funding will be used to support the centre’s already thriving creative writing programme.
Amy says: ‘The Creative Writing for Health and Wellbeing workshops were specially designed for Maggie’s in 2007 by Valerie Gillies, who, together with one of Maggie’s staff members, runs the series of 8 weekly meetings. Groups are small, usually 8-10 people, and each session lasts for 2 hours.
The Journaling sessions and Writers Café are follow-on sessions for people who have done the workshops. Small groups provide a secure environment for listening to each other’s writing, and an opportunity to make writing a creative and positive part of everyday life.
The Bridge Awards donation would entirely fund the workshops, journaling sessions and Writer’s café for one year together with writing materials for people to use.’
We are thrilled to support the amazing work Maggie’s does and look forward to next year’s award.
The beautiful gardens at Maggie’s Edinburgh.
