To date, the charity has sold around 800 hearts. Once complete, the rainbow sculpture will hold 5,000 hearts each which will bear a special message to the person or people it is dedicated too.
Throughout the last year, we have worked in partnership with Doncaster Council to find a forever home for the Hearts for Doncaster sculpture. Whilst this took longer than originally anticipated, we are delighted that the sculpture is now situated in its new home within the gardens of the Doncaster Archive Centre on Chequer Road, just below the Civic Office.
Behind the scenes there has been a great deal of time, effort and thought put into the Hearts for Doncaster memorial and where stands. We discussed a number of locations within the city centre and other areas across Doncaster, however, we had to consider a number of factors including the suitability of the foundations for the sculpture, the possibility of vandalism and need for protection, ongoing maintenance as well as ensuring the environment was suitable for people to visit, and, if they wish, sit and spend time safely with the memorial.
During this exploration, we were approached by the team working on the new former Doncaster Museum on Chequer Road who informed us that they were transforming it into the new Doncaster Archive Centre. After hearing their plans with the space and our initial visit, we felt this would be the perfect place for the sculpture to be placed.
As the project was in the early stages they were able to support with a number of things which included covering the costs of a number of things required for the sculpture which included the cost of the planning permission application which the team also supported us with writing, the foundations required for the sculpture. As a result of the Council kindly supporting with these costs, it meant that more of the money raised could be used to support Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals’ Charity and subsequently reinvested in patients services and facilities.
The team working on the development of the new Archive Centre have put a lot of time and effort into the space. They have cleared and transformed the gardens putting new grass, plants and installing other works of art, as well as a number of benches.
It was important to us that the sculpture was placed somewhere where we felt it would be safe and the archive centre has the bonus of secured gates which will be locked each night. It also has parking and is roughly a 12-minute walk from the Frenchgate shopping centre. For those who are interested in exploring the history of Doncaster, after visiting the new archive centre it’s a three-minute walk to the new Danum Gallery, Library and Museum.
The majority of the hearts on the sculpture are dedicated in memory of a loved one, we felt that the sculpture needed to be in a location where supporters could sit and reflect, in a peaceful environment and many of the other locations we were offered would not have provided this. The gardens of the Archive Centre is filled with benches where supporters can sit for as long as they would like, enjoying the new space surrounding them.
Throughout the last few weeks, our Charity team have been visiting to fix on the hearts which have been purchased so far and have really enjoyed visiting the space and seeing how much it is being transformed with the help of the sculpture.
There are a still a number of hearts which need fixing onto the sculpture and we are working with our engravers at Happs to get these on as quick as we can. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has supported the appeal and for your patience.
As a Charity and Trust, we appreciate that the location may not be exactly right for everyone and some people feel very strongly against this. We would like to acknowledge and thank you for your feedback, and if individuals wish to raise this further you can contact the team directly.
COVID-19 will, hopefully, one day be consigned to historical record, and we are proud that Hearts for Doncaster is situated in a place where we can proudly celebrate everything our community did to tackle the pandemic whilst also remembering those we sadly lost.
