Thanks to many generous donors raising £300,000, the extensively refurbished Take Heart Roof Garden at the Leeds General Infirmary is now welcoming visitors again.
This redesigned space now offers a calm and uplifting escape for patients, visitors and staff. The garden includes dozens of plants, ramps, sustainable and non-slip decking to help everyone move around and new benches/tables. It affords spectacular views of Leeds city centre.
A memorial called ‘The Butterfly Wall – A Living Tribute’ has also been installed in the garden, a vibrant and heartfelt space in honour of those who have touched lives but who are no longer with us. Mounted across the wall is a collection of individually crafted acrylic butterflies, each one representing a person who meant a great deal to our hospital community.
This includes Cardiac patients and people such as Colin Pullan, the original char of the Take Heart Charity, and Dr Robert Sapsford, Consultant Cardiologist, who sadly died while riding his bike in September 2024. The installation features a serene panoramic scene of a flower-filled field stretching into an open sky. It’s a celebration of nature and beauty – a visual representation of peace, hope, and remembrance.
The garden can be found on F Floor, Jubilee Wing. It is open to all seven days a week, 8am-6pm, however for safety it will briefly close whenever a helicopter is coming into land. The refurbishment of the garden was completed by West Yorkshire construction company I&G.
Take Heart has been running for 36 years completely on a voluntary basis, raising funds exclusively for the Yorkshire Heart Centre at Leeds General Infirmary, St James’s University Hospital and its units in Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. To date they have raised in excess of seven million pounds which has been used to provide comfort and enhance the surroundings for patients who visit every year.
Gina McGawley general manager for the Cardio-Respiratory service at Leeds Teaching Hospitals and chair of trustees with Take Heart, said: “It’s such an amazing, unique space right in the centre of the city. The feedback we’re getting for the garden is lovely; patients, staff and visitors find it a really accessible and relaxing space, where they can spend time together or use it for periods of reflection.”
“We’re so pleased to have completed the refurbishment – thank you to everyone who has donated to enable us to do this, and everyone who has worked on transforming the garden. Your continued support makes an enormous difference.”
Paul Russell, operations manager at I&G, said: “The transformation of the garden will really make a difference to the hospital, providing a quiet, calm area for staff, patients and visitors to relax and reflect away from the hustle and bustle of the main building. Our team has really enjoyed working on the project and seeing it come to life day-by-day – and it’s not often we work on a site with such amazing views across the city!”
