Rainbow sculpture to light up Stoke Mandeville Hospital
The sculpture is being installed at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in tribute to the NHS and community
An NHS Rainbow sculpture is set to be installed at Stoke Mandeville Hospital today after a year of planning and preparation.
The sculpture, which is the brainchild of Volunteer Liaison and Project Manager Vicky Harman and is designed in tribute to NHS staff and the community which has changed and evolved during the pandemic.
Each colour of the rainbow is sponsored and has raised money for the Florence Nightingale Hospital Charity and the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust Charitable Fund whose funding was impacted by coronavirus.
Members of the public have been able to contribute to its development since the idea launched, and have sponsored tiles for £20 each and dedicate it to any individual, group or organisation who has made a positive impact to the community.
The piece is made from steel and will take 6 weeks to get ready as the installation starts. The rainbow will be tiled, then a grass roof will be added onto the sculpture.
A community effort
Landscaping will take place, where the hospital is getting the community in Buckinghamshire involved.
The arch will also light up when it is finished.
Partnerships Manager at Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity Emma Carroll noted that the rainbow was significant as it reflects what has come out of the pandemic for the region. She said:
“We needed some sort of permanent reminder of Covid-19 for good and bad reasons I guess; the way that the people of Buckinghamshire have reacted to it and survived and communities have been built and people have developed new friendships.”
Emma Carroll said it has been a long time coming, and is excited to see the reaction from the people of Buckinghamshire. She said:
“We’ve slowly gone through the whole process of getting planning permission for it; working on a design! Then another design… and a redesign!”
“Friday is a big milestone for the project in terms of how people will perceive it I think as it’s the first chance people get to see how large this rainbow is actually going to be.”
Going forward, the hospital is also hoping to grow the project by marking the representation in other ways around the area. Carroll said:
“We think we are the first structure of this size in the country made in this way.”
“So whether others want to follow us, I don’t know, but locally we have got a few early-stage plans to build little rainbow gardens in other parts of Aylesbury as a kind of satellite thing going on, but we haven’t made any firm plans around that but it would be a nice addition I think.”