Staff at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust are showing their love and appreciation for one another by ‘passing on’ bouquets of flowers as part of a new initiative that thanks staff for their hard work and dedication.

Just Because, which is run in partnership with social enterprise Flower Pod, was started in the women’s and children’s department.

Staff receive flowers that have been put together by volunteers with learning disabilities — and the good deed is then passed to another deserving colleague the following week with a new bouquet.

The idea came about when the clinical chair of the women’s and children’s division, Helena Clements, wanted to give flowers to a colleague.

Rather than have a bouquet delivered from a florist, Helena decided to support a local charity and asked volunteers to design an arrangement and deliver it to the hospital.

Helena then decided to support the charity further and continue to spread thanks by signing the department up for a year’s worth of flowers, with a different member of the team receiving flowers each Tuesday.

She said: “The idea is that the last person to receive flowers decides who the next bouquet should go to within the division but in a different department.

“It’s always a lovely surprise for the person receiving the flowers and means so much to them to be thought of by a friend and a colleague.

“It’s just such a lovely way to say thank you and it’s really good for staff morale, as well as supporting a worthy cause too.

“I have worked with Flower Pod in the past so I already knew of their great work and wanted to support their cause further.

“I would definitely recommend doing something like this to other organisations in the area — it has been well received by staff at Sherwood Forest Hospitals.”

Flower Pod is part of Reach Learning Disability, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities, and is based in Southwell.

Flowers are grown at its garden site and one of the charity’s supported volunteers, Anita Highland, puts together an arrangement, decorates a tin they are put in and delivers them to the unsuspecting recipient at King’s Mill.

Anita said: “I like doing the flowers every week because I am learning how to make arrangements with the help of Marguerite at the charity.

“The comments about how pretty the flowers are make me feel really happy.”

Pictured, from left, are Helena Clements, clinical chair of the women’s and children’s division; Lorraine Binch, assistant general manager; Lisa Gowan, divisional general manager; and Anita Highland, supported volunteer at Flower Pod.