The St Barnabas Hospice HeART Trail is bringing joy to people of all ages this summer.
The Lincolnshire-wide art trail offers thirty beautiful heart-shaped sculptures to visit, with twenty based in Lincoln, five on the east coast and five more in towns around the county.
One of the artists of the Trail (known as HeARTists) is 22-year-old Rachel Benson from Welton.
Her HeART is located outside the St Barnabas charity shop at the bottom of Steep Hill in Lincoln and is colourfully painted with the Lincoln Cathedral and intricate mandalas on both sides of the sculpture.
Rachel was one of over a hundred local and national artists who submitted their design for the HeART Trail. Her design ‘Heart of the City’ was chosen by sponsor Lincoln BIG as their favourite, after which she was commissioned to paint it for the Trail.
Rachel says: “I was inspired by my mum who was incredibly artistic, I could watch her for hours and I definitely get my creativity from her. When the HeART Trail opened for artist submission, I decided to give it a shot – but I never expected to actually be chosen!
“I heard in October last year that my design was chosen. It was such a wonderful surprise and so exciting, but it came at a difficult time.”
In March of 2022, Rachel’s mother Glenis was diagnosed with cancer.
Sadly, the condition was terminal and her health deteriorated rapidly. On 11th April, Glenis was taken into the St Barnabas Inpatient Unit in Lincoln to receive care around the clock. She stayed there for ten days before she died, with Rachel and the rest of their family always by her bedside.
Rachel says: “Spending those last ten days with mum was incredibly special, the nurses gave her amazing care and looked after us as a family too. They would give us all the time in the world to spend with her, we could even stay overnight at the Hospice.
“Staff and volunteers would check in to see if we needed anything, food and drinks were provided to not just mum but us as visitors as well. We were also offered counselling, and other types of mental wellbeing support. We were given so much love and sympathy. Those extra touches make St Barnabas so wonderful.
“The care, compassion and love St Barnabas provided not just to mum as their patient but to us as the whole family is just amazing. That is why I support St Barnabas Hospice, and I hope you will support them too by taking part in the HeART Trail.”
Rachel’s HeART can be viewed until 4th September as part of the HeART Trail, which aims to bring communities together and raise awareness of the high-quality, free care St Barnabas provides not just in its Hospices in Lincoln and Grantham, but also in people’s own homes around the county.
From 11th until 28th September Rachel’s sculpture can be admired as part of the HeART Trail’s Reunion event at the Lincoln Museum (formerly The Collection), which brings together all HeARTs under one roof.
On the last day of the Reunion, eleven of the HeARTs will be auctioned, including Rachel’s sculpture. Bidding is set to start from £3,000 and all profits will be going to St Barnabas so the charity may continue its good work of providing outstanding, compassionate care to people who need it.
Businesses and individuals who are interested in attending the auction can keep an eye on the St Barnabas website www.stbarnabashospice.co.uk and social media for more information in due course.