MORE than 500 handmade forget-me-nots have been snapped up by hospice supporters helping to create a celebration garden in Worcester.

St Richard's Hospice is creating the garden around the base of the city's St Andrew’s Spire.

The charity hopes a thousand hand-crafted, unique forget-me-not clusters will be reminiscent of the poppies planted in the grounds of the Tower of London in 2014.

Tracey Grint was one of the first people to buy one of the flowers to celebrate the birth of her grandson Archie.

Staff at the hospice are now asking more people to considering donating towards one of the forget-me-not clusters, which they can later take home as a keepsake or gift.

June Patel, care director, said: “The forget-me-nots will create a memorable and stunning garden which will be an ideal focal point for celebration and reflection.

"We are thrilled that over half the forget-me-not clusters have already been secured and we are sure the remainder will be popular.

"We have received donations to celebrate all sorts of reasons from remembering a life of someone precious, to births, anniversaries and as a thank you.”

The flowers will be installed on Saturday, August 13 and will be on display until August 29 as one of the visual highlights of the Worcester Festival.

Donors will be invited to pick a flower from the garden on Bank Holiday Monday, August, 29, collect from the hospice or receive theirs via post after the installation is dismantled.

The money raised from the idea will help fund St Richard’s free specialist palliative care for life limited patients and support for their families in Worcestershire.

People can order a forget-me-not by visiting strichards.org.uk/celebration-garden or by calling the fundraising department on 01905 763963.

The celebration garden is sponsored by Open GI.