A new winter wonderland in Rotherham is lighting up the dark nights, raising vital funds and showing that hospices can be places of joy.

From 6 to 21 December, the garden of Rotherham Hospice will be full of lights, glittery reindeer, dancing elves, inflatable snowmen and a grotto for children to see Santa.

Emily Dowd, Marketing and Communications Manager said: “The purpose of it was to try and bring more people into the hospice and to see it’s not a place of sadness all the time and there can be joy.

“It has brought new people in and I think it’s made a massive difference breaking the stigma of who we are and what we do.”

The Winter Garden is a paid public event, but the families visiting patients in the hospice have free access to the garden and to the grotto.

Before she ran off to dial Santa into a podcast from the grotto, Paula Figueira, Fundraising Events Manager said:  “It was a concept of the Chief Executive, Mat Cottle-Shaw. He’s a very visual person and has brought it to life. 

“He pulled us into a meeting and said ‘how do you fancy this?’. We were like ‘oh that’s really quick!’

“It is a work in progress, we’ve got snags and things like that,” she said.

A tip off from an elf revealed one of the “snags” was the big inflatable Santa and the grinch coming down in Storm Bram this week.

But Ms Dowd said: “When you get to the event and get to see kids enjoying it and families overwhelmed by it, then you realise what it’s all for.”

Ms Dowd said at their private event for corporate supporters, a girl from their children’s bereavement service opened the gardens.

“She absolutely loved it and loved Santa.”

Ms Dowd was optimistic this could become an important fundraising event for the hospice.

Rotherham Hospice is funded 37% through the NHS, with the other £6.6m a year coming through fundraising.

She said: “Events like this bring in a massive income. I think we’ve got over 2300 people booked on to come and see the gardens and £30,000 so raised so far.

“That’s all going to go into the hospice and all our services. 

“The Inpatient Unit where we have 14 beds to care for patients in the hospice, hospice at home goes out to homes and cares for patients there,” she said.

“Last year we saw 17000 patients across Rotherham so all this money will go into keeping those services going.”