Garden to be created for bereaved Glasgow families

Within the walls of the Provan Hall in the city’s Easterhouse, a garden filled with benches and bright colours is being built to give parents a place to grieve and honour their babies who have passed.

The main feature of the space will be the Tree of Tranquillity, an initiative founded by the baby loss charity, SiMBA. The tree is a life-sized sculpture made from copper, where each leaf is engraved with a personal message to honour a child. 

The instalment comes after the former Tree of Tranquillity in Glasgow was removed in December 2020 due to vandalism, leaving a gap for families to grieve and honour their children in a safe, quiet and private manner.

Vanessa Rhazali, head of fundraising and communications at SiMBA, said: "After the distress of the original tree being vandalised, we are so happy that the tree is being re-installed. It is just such great news. 

"The installation will mean so much to parents who have waited so long for a place to grieve. It is somewhere private and peaceful for people to go, and it is so important that Glasgow parents have somewhere like that to remember and honour their babies.

“It is also massively important for parents to see their babies’ names on the copper leaves. The ones that were on the existing tree will be re-attached carefully to the new tree and parents who had leaves but never got the chance to see them on the old tree due to the vandalization, will now finally get them attached.”

The garden was designed by SiMBA in coordination with All-Nu Landscapes, who are creating the garden free of charge. 

And for company director, Colin Brown, the decision to bring the charity's vision to life for free was a 'no brainer'. 

It comes after the landscapers were approached by the charity at an award ceremony back in 2022.

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Colin said: "Doing this was a no-brainer for us. 

"After the last tree was vandalised, there hasn't been another one put back into the city.

“This has been a huge loss to Glasgow as there was nowhere for people to go to remember their loved ones. 

"Hopefully installing this will bring a lot of joy to people.

“We're excited to be able to do this and be part of it." 

A range of suppliers including MKM Airdrie Building Supplies, Global stone, UltraScape, and MKM Tool Hire Glasgow, also agreed to donate thousands of pounds of material

But it is not just the landscapers who are excited about the initiative.

Colin explained: "Since we announced that we were doing this, a lot of people have reached out saying they cannot wait. One person even said that they are so excited to have the space back to spend time with their boy. 

"People who have lost babies have not had anywhere to go, so they all seem really excited that this is happening. 

"Lots of people have reached out saying how much this means to them and are just so excited that the space will be returning to the city. Everyone has been so thankful." 

The garden will be installed with new security fencing, making it a lot safer and more secure than the previous space.

The work will take up to a few weeks to complete.

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Vanessa added: "We're hugely grateful to Colin and the team at All-Nu Landscapes. 

"As a charity we have to look out for every penny, so if work is offered to us for free then it's even better. 

"This is going to deliver something really important and save the charity funds, which is just brilliant." 

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