Spring is in the air as a charity and workshop teamed up to create brightly coloured flower planters

With warm weather heading our way, there’s nothing better than getting out into the garden and being creative to bring the garden back to life. So with newly painted Spring planters two charities are off to a head start to brighten the back yard.

GO Girls who support women with gynaecological cancers joined together with the Purbeck Workshop again to paint a series of brightly coloured spring planters.

“We had great fun creating our planters”, said Annette Pitman. “It’s two hours of laughter. None of us are artists but with guidance from our course leader, Bridget, we even surprised ourselves with what we achieved – it’s all about giving it a go and meeting other people.”

Research has shown that cancer patients can benefit considerably by participating in art and complementary therapies. It has been shown that pain and anxiety are reduced and fatigue improved. “We are both charities that are here to support cancer patients: collaborating together is a sensible way of combining our skills for the benefit of as many cancer patients as possible”, said Hilary Maxwell, Chair of GO Girls. “Cancer patients have an enormous amount to cope with – no one wants cancer and treatments are often tough, so if there is additional support to help you cope, we believe this is a positive step to recovery. And you don’t have to come alone, bring a friend or relative with you, although we are a very friendly bunch”.

The Purbeck Workshop has been providing creative escapes for cancer patients for just over 4 years. Sinead Feeney has continued to lead the Purbeck Workshop which was founded by her late husband, Paul, who sadly passed away from cancer. The Workshop runs a number of events throughout the month. “We are thrilled to be working with the GO Girls. We’ve always worked well with them – we love their fun and laughter and lighter approach to cancer support. Certainly the last 3 workshops we have held with them have certainly bee entertaining and I think I can definitely say everyone found the events to be therapeutic”.

To find out more about forthcoming events, please visit www.gogirlssupport.org/events or www.purbeckworkshop.org