The Princess Royal opens Dorothy House’s expanded ‘Firefly Woods’

On Thursday 14 September, Dorothy House Hospice Care was honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to celebrate the opening of our Firefly Woods as a place of reflection and remembrance for everyone across the Dorothy House community.

Her Royal Highness took a guided tour around the Winsley gardens and Day Patient Unit to meet with Dorothy House patients and families, volunteers and staff. The Princess Royal then officially opened the newly expanded Firefly Woods and accepted a Firefly in memory of her late mother and father, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

“Our vision is to create a place where death is a part of life. By opening up our grounds to the wider community, we hope to create an open space for reflection, accessible to all, connecting individuals in grief and celebrating life.”
– Wayne de Leeuw, Chief Executive, Dorothy House Hospice Care.

New partnership with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust

Nature can have powerful benefits for people encountering grief. The event also launched a new partnership between Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Dorothy House to ensure more people have routes to connect with nature in bereavement.

In 2020, internationally renowned artist, Bruce Munro, gifted Dorothy House hundreds of individually handmade ‘Fireflies’ for installation in the woodlands at Winsley House. Each Firefly is a constellation of separate small lights, which glow from dusk to dawn.

A space where death is a part of life

The Firefly Woods have since become a deeply valued space for those impacted by Dorothy House’s care to take a moment amongst the lights to pause, breathe, reflect, and remember their loved ones.

The newly expanded immersive space of reflection contains almost 20,000 individual lights which move in harmony with the leaves of the woodland surrounding them. The installation is now open to all across the community: a place where anyone can come to remember loved ones, connect with nature and explore their grief.

Firefly Woods are open to everyone

To mark the opening up of the Firefly Woods to the community, Firefly number one isn’t dedicated to any one individual but glows to represent everyone we have all loved and lost.

Now anyone who has experienced grief can visit the Firefly and feel part of a wider compassionate community; united in destigmatising death and in acknowledging bereavement.

Fireflies funding vital end of life care

To help fund the vital, compassionate care provided by the Hospice, each year Dorothy House invites people to dedicate a light on a Firefly. This is a wonderful way to create a lasting legacy for a loved one and to join a community of support in bereavement.

Annual ‘Celebration of Life’ events for all those who have dedicated a light bring the Firefly community together. The event on 14 September was an opportunity for hundreds of those who have dedicated a light this year, alongside further supporters, staff and volunteers, to celebrate together, and we were deeply honoured that Her Royal Highness joined us.

Always on

Anyone who is unable to visit their dedicated light in person can now access it via VR headset, a 24-hour webcam.

To dedicate a light on a Firefly, click below for further information.