Charity flower painting

Momentum Charity

I came across Momentum Charity when our youngest was in hospital recovering from cancer in 2021. A friendly lady dressed in bright green (the charity colour) offered us a free day trip on their barge and a weekend away in their New Forest cabin by the sea. Both experiences were glimmers of how our life was before cancer and encouraged us to move forward in a difficult time. These experiences affected us profoundly and a few years ago I was inspired to get involved as a volunteer pebble painter and speaker.

When the charity purchased their two New Forest beach cabins, they quickly found that visiting children enjoyed decorating pebbles and leaving them in their beach hut for others to see, alongside the lovely collection of pebbles that were accumulating. The personal drawings and emotions expressed on the pebbles inspired the charity to create a pebble offering as part of their interaction with each family.

Now when a child is diagnosed with a serious illness, they deliver them a personalised, decorated pebble, to accompany them throughout their treatment. Each child has their name on one side, and on the other a creation of their choice. For some that will be a superhero to give them strength, and for others a fairy princess to escape to fairytales and magic. A plain pebble is transformed to a hand-held piece of art – each one is unique, just as every child’s who faces a serious illness faces a unique journey. To symbolise the end of treatment, children can release their pebble from Momentum’s green barge, hide it in the forest near the holiday cabin or throw it into the sea by the beach hut – and of course, some children choose to keep it forever as it has meant a lot to them through their illness.

The Charity knows I’m a botanical illustrator and it’s always an honour to receive their flower pebble requests! Each Momentum email that hits my Inbox comes with the knowing that another family has just received a serious diagnosis. If I can make it just a teensy bit easier with this small gift, then I’m happy to help and offer support in this way. Momentum always needs help to carry on their work in service of families navigating serious illness. If you would be interested in becoming one of their pebble artists get in touch with the charity.

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A little bit about Momentum Charity: they support families whose children are facing a life-challenging condition. They partner with local hospitals to offer personally tailored support to the entire family through their family support workers, both in hospital and at home. Their support services include counselling, creative therapies, experiences and respite breaks. They also improve the environment for children treated in hospital with children’s ward refurbishments; transforming bare, clinical areas into bright, child-friendly spaces. They’re there whatever the outcome, for as long as they’re needed, so that no family has to cope alone.