With the beginning of every new year, we like to look back at some of our projects of the past, and one in particular was especially important to us. For the past few years, we have provided Tŷ Hafan with pebbles for their memorial garden which are engraved with the names of the children that have passed.
In 2019, Tŷ Hafan’s Head of Community Services and Partnerships, Tracy Jones, worked with the sound artist Justin Wiggan for the beautifully named ‘These Names Will Be Forever in Our Skies’ memorial garden project.
Mr Wiggan has translated the names of the children into Morse code and sampled bird song around this, with the hope that the birds would start to copy this and sing the children’s names throughout the sky.
In addition to the sound piece, Tŷ Hafan wanted to display the poem that Justin Wiggan had written, with the initial idea being a commemorative plaque on a Welsh slate boulder.
We as a team were very moved by the whole concept, and wanted to make sure we delivered something exceptional for the children’s memorial.
After a lot of thought and designing, we presented our idea – a Welsh slate bird bath. This would look to encourage birds to visit the site, ensuring a higher exposure to the bird song being played, and would also be a beautiful addition to the memorial garden.
Our specialist team of dedicated stonemasons here at Stone Sign Co. crafted a large Welsh slate boulder into a magnificent bird bath, keeping as much of the natural beauty and features of the Welsh slate as possible. For the poem, we decided to engrave the lettering into a circular Portland limestone plaque and inset this into the face of the boulder. To finish this stone memorial, we decorated the bird bath with three bronze birds.
We will never forget being a part of this project and would like to thank Tŷ Hafan for everything they do for children and their families.
Tŷ Hafan is one of the UK’s leading paediatric palliative care charities and offers care to children and support for their families throughout Wales.
“You are invisible
but now I hear you from the trees;
bouncing from beak to leaves to lips,
from sea foam to skyline,
rewiring nature as a promise that I will
never forget:
that these names will be forever in our
skies…”
Watch the making of