Fields of Shropshire-grown sunflowers gifted to Lingen Davies in aid of new appeal
In June, we launched our largest appeal to date – a £5million Sunflower Appeal! With the aim to develop cancer services in Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital through the provision of a Cancer Centre by 2029.
We were invited to collect as many sunflowers as required from Shropshire Petal Fields – a collaborative event between biodegradable confetti company, Shropshire Petals, and the award-winning events company, Shropshire Festivals.
Shropshire Petal Fields, a myriad of colour near Newport, provided thousands of visitors with the opportunity to explore fields brimming with fresh delphiniums, cornflowers, sunflowers, and other wildflowers.
This is the third consecutive year that Shropshire Petal Fields, a collaboration between Shropshire Festivals and Shropshire Petals, has been open to the public.
“It’s lovely to welcome our friends at Lingen Davies Cancer Support,” said Beth Heath, Director of Fun at Shropshire Festivals. “They do incredible work supporting the people of Shropshire, Telford, and Mid Wales as they deal with the impact of cancer on their lives. Their Sunflower Appeal is bold and ambitious, and we wish them the very best in hitting that target as soon as possible to boost their life-changing support.”
Ashley Evers-Swindell from Shropshire Petals adds, “We’re so pleased to welcome Lingen Davies to our flower field as part of their wonderful Sunflower Appeal. It’s a small gesture from us, but one we hope brings a little sunshine to the incredible patients, families, and supporters they work with every day. We’re proud to support such an important Shropshire charity doing vital work in our community.”
The invitation was coordinated by Dave Reynolds who is a keen supporter of Lingen Davies. Dave is preparing to run the London Marathon 2026 having pledged to raise over £2,000 for the charity following the excellent cancer care given to his father-in-law in the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
To support his marathon fundraising efforts, Dave has sold bunches of the sunflowers collected at Shropshire Petal Fields to his colleagues at Telford business Reconomy.
Lingen Davies fundraiser Jonathan Wood said: “We were overjoyed by this unique offer following the recent launch of our Sunflower Appeal. Most of the flowers we’ve collected will be dried in preparation for some upcoming events and others have already been earmarked for the next round of Horticultural Activities – part of our Wellbeing Programme – in September.”
The Horticultural Activity sessions are run by Bloomin’ Lovely as part of our £100,000 Wellbeing Programme – a collection of funded activities and workshops to support those in the region living with and beyond cancer.
The new Lingen Davies Cancer Centre at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford will double chemotherapy capacity in the region with 30 new chemotherapy bays, alongside new outpatients clinics, and new lung and urology diagnostic clinics.
