Express & Star

Sensory garden a fitting memorial to father killed in motorbike crash

The memory of a father killed in a motorbike crash is being honoured through the completion of a sensory garden project he started.

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Louise Broad from 4 Community trust and Julie Sadler get working on the sensory garden at Dorothy House

Gary Simpson, a 38-year-old qualified landscape gardener, had drawn up plans and was set to start work on a sensory garden at respite centre Dorothy House in his home town of Oldbury. The site is run by the 4 Community Trust, which Gary had supported and volunteered for since it helped his autistic son.

However Gary, a father-of-three and manager for Biffa, was killed in a crash on the A458 Stourbridge Road in Halesowen in June.

Now his partner Julie Sadler has helped to start work on the garden at Dorothy House alongside their children Lillie-May, Billy and Jack and volunteers from 4 Community Trust.

She said she had decided to begin working on the garden as she wanted to continue the work Gary had started.

Gary was aged 38 when he died

She said: "After he died, I decided to do the garden in his memory and the trust named it the Gary Simpson Sensory Garden, so it's all be about fundraising and working to get the garden up and running.

"It's the best thing I could have done to remember him as he used to drive me mad with our garden as we've got an autistic son, so he was always out rearranging things and making sensory things for our son Jack."

The garden is set to have a range of play items, including a trampoline, specialist play equipment and a sensory room and a fundraising campaign has been launched to help fund the work.

Ms Sadler said she wasn't a particularly green-fingered person and said if Gary could see her now, he'd probably be laughing about her getting down and dirty in the garden.

She said: "I think he'd be laughing at the sight of me and the children gardening, as none of us liked doing it, but it's worth doing it for the people who will benefit from it.

"Currently in Sandwell, we don't have any facilities or foster carers, so young people have nowhere to go at the moment to have a break, so this provide a place for them.

"It means everything to do this as I work with children with special needs, so I know how much it's going to benefit them."

To find out more about the garden campaign and to make a donation, go to crowdfunder.co.uk/give4gary

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