We arrived at the hospital to visit the patient who we last saw in the Escalation area, pending hospital admission. The Escalation area is basically a corridor between A&E and the hospital wards.

The patient was no longer registered on the A&E system and was now in AMU (Acute Medical Unit).

We had arrived too early for visiting hours which start at 12.30 so we walked for lunch in the nearby Bowring Park taking the long way there and back. The walk gave me a chance to photograph a lovely sculpture located near to the park.

Back at the hospital the patient seemed almost back to normal but as we left, I knew that was not the case. This was confirmed later by a phone call.

Sadly, this means we will have to postpone our imminent Stratford adventure…

This Owl Sculpture has been created by Tommy Craggs, an award winning local artist. You can view his work on the internet at treesculpting.co.uk.

The tree is one of our historic Oaks, planted in 1892, which was badly damaged in storms last year. When it became apparent that it could not be saved, we looked at ways of keeping it as a feature in the garden and decided that a sculpture would add interest to the area and and keep the tree as a presence in the garden.

The stump is carved with an owl, red squirrels and a woodpecker, all of which used the tree when it was alive. The bark is covered with wonderful lichens and mosses which Tommy has kept as part of the design.