For anyone who regularly follows the adventures of our walking group, you’ll know that we are usually very fortunate with the weather. This was not the case this week, but although the group got more than a little damp on the outside, the spirits remained upbeat and a great time was had by all.
A walk across town to catch a bus to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (or the Southern General to some of us) to visit the new Gro Garden there. We were greeted by our host Rebecca just as the heavens opened and the rain started to splash down. Luckily, the garden is partially roofed, and one of these places was where Rebecca had set up for our Hapa Zome workshop.
None of us had heard of Hapa Zome before, but it is the Japanese art of squishing leaves and flowers with a hammer to transfer their natural dyes onto paper or fabric. It’s a wee bit noisy but great fun and the resulting prints are beautiful. There are lots of wild flowers growing around the garden so during one of the breaks in the rain we went out to gather some of these and then got to arranging and hammering them. Rebecca was a great host and gave us all a tote bag each to take away to make some more prints on.
The Gro Garden is a great addition to the hospital grounds and is popular with staff, patients and visitors. You can find more information about it here – QEUH Gro Garden opens to staff, patients and visitors – NHSGGC
After our workshop, we had a wander and went into the main hospital building for a look around. There was an exhibition in the cafe area and we were delighted to find a colourful drawing by our good friend Lea Cummings.
Writing by Celine Mcilmunn
Images by Celine Mcilmunn and Ruth Mutch
