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MEET the group of dedicated volunteers who have spent endless hours creating beautiful gardens at their local hospice for terminally ill patients and their families to enjoy.

Providing a quiet sanctuary for those in need, the gardens at the Highland Hospice in Inverness help to provide comfort and peace to those coming to the end of their lives.

Come rain, hail or shine, the inspiring group spend hours weeding, planting and selecting flowers to brighten up patients’ rooms. They quietly work away and the retired group of caring volunteers can always be relied upon to keep the grounds in immaculate condition.

Head of the gardening team is pensioner Bob Marshall, who tends to the hospice grounds each week without fail.

Bob, 76, from Inverness, has been volunteering at the hospice for 12 years and takes great pride that the gardens provide comfort and solace to those most in need. He said: “Some of the patients’ rooms look on to the gardens and we want it to be as nice as it possibly can be for them.

“The gardens have lots of flowers, shrubs, sweet peas, bird feeders and seating areas, so it can be enjoyed by all the patients and their families.

“We have a group of seven volunteers, made up of myself, Ronnie Chalmers, Charlie Cowie, Eric Main, Bill Sprunt, Rodger Reed and John Clark, and we all help to maintain the grounds.

“A lot of the patients and their families come and sit out here. It is a nice, quiet area to reflect.

“We find that some of the patients who are interested in gardening like to come and chat to us and ask about the shrubs and plants. It really is their garden – we just potter away in the background maintaining the grounds as best we can.”

Bob began volunteering after noticing the grounds could do with a little bit of sprucing up and some tender loving care.

What began as a little bit of weeding soon turned into some planting and, as word spread about the project, more green-fingered volunteers joined Bob, helping to transform a modest garden into stunning grounds.

The retired prison officer said: “We all work really well together and we just try to keep it looking its best.

“We are very lucky to receive donations from kind-hearted people.

“These have included bedding plants and benches, all of which have helped us to transform the grounds.

“It is nice to know that the patients and staff appreciate what we do.

“Gardening has always been a passion of mine so, for me, there is nothing better than spending a few hours here.”

And to say thank you to the team for all their dedication and hard work, the staff at the hospice have nominated them for a Volunteer Award at the Scottish Health Awards, sponsored by the Daily Record.

Emily Forbes, voluntary service co-ordinator at the hospice, said: “They deserve to win this award because, no matter what the weather is like, these retired fellows always show up to tend to the plants and flowers in the garden.

“Our patients say they could sit and enjoy the gardens all day, that the gardens are beautiful and wonderful – even in the rain – and that the gardens feel like being in the countryside.

“Most importantly, the patients say that the gardeners do amazing work.

“While it is acknowledged that the volunteers are hard-working, they come and go so quietly that we rarely have the opportunity to thank them.”

“We would like to show our appreciation to them for their exceptional efforts, which contribute so greatly towards the well-being of patients in the care of the Highland Hospice.”