Enthusiastic craftswoman and artist Verity Slaughter-Penney has worked with a team of knitters and crochet fans to create a beautiful display of 1,800 purple and white flowers to raise money for the Transition UK charity which supports young people with mental health problems. .
The exhibition has already been on tour in the Bedford suspension bridge and the Bedford Sports and Social Club, before joining Wardown Bridge this week.
“He’s on tour in all the areas the charity works in, but we’ve even had some interest from Brighton to show it off,” Verity said. “It’s finding the ideal places to put it without it being a distraction for drivers.”
The work was created after Verity placed an order for flowers of the color from the charity, based in Milton Keynes. Purple is also the characteristic color that reflects mental health. Around 200 people responded, including one from Poland and as far as the Isle of Wight. A blind Yorkshire craftsman provided 200 flowers, and Verity herself completed around 200 before sewing them all onto the net to produce the display.
“We asked people to make them as individual as possible to represent the young people we’ve lost to suicide. Each flower is different to represent individuality.”
Verity, a former director who works at the charity, has had her own struggles with mental illness and suffers from PTSD and anxiety disorder.
“The work of the charity is very important to me,” he said. The purple flower show is a continuation of a poppy show she organized that was on display before the pandemic.
It takes about a week for the flowers to adhere to the straps and then another three hours to place the installation on the bridges.
“People stop and talk to me when i’m putting up the exhibit it’s beautiful. They say ‘what a delicious thing to do’. People really respect displays of love like this,” she said.
The Wardown feature includes a note explaining the purpose behind the screen along with a QR code for people to donate. Once the display is finally over, the flowers will be made into badges for sale.
“We hope that a lot of people will go see it and donate, I know these are difficult times for people, but these are even more difficult times for some young people,” said Verity.
Transitions UK provides life-changing support to vulnerable and disadvantaged young people aged 13-24. Founded in 2014 in Luton the charity is now working in 18 location centers in Herts, Beds, Bucks, Leicestershire, Birmingham and north London in four specialties: learning disabilities, at risk of offending, mental health problems and experienced youth care. To know more go to http://www.transitionsuk.org
If you would like to assist Verity with future projects or if you are a professional photographer who can help highlight the work in progress, you can contact Verity at http://[email protected]
