Gloucester Cathedral metal butterflies honour memory of loved ones

The sculpture will remain in place until 11 July when it will move to Stroud’s Museum in the Park from 14 to 24 July

A display of 1,000 pink metal butterflies, with hundreds dedicated in memory of loved ones, has been unveiled at Gloucester Cathedral.

Palliative care charity Longfield Hospice has organised the artwork and money raised will go towards its end of life care work in the community.

So far £15,000 has been raised by people who have bought a butterfly.

Once the installation closes the butterflies will be returned to the donors to keep as a lasting tribute.

The money raised from the Butterfly Appeal will go towards Longfield Hospice’s palliative and end of life care work

Local artist Gemma Pitman hopes the sculpture will take people on a journey in the same way that grief is also journey.

"I wanted to take people on a path through the sculpture they might not want to take," she said.

"We will guide people through the narrowest path to start, because when you lose a loved one and you experience grief and that loss, it is a path you never wanted to take but nonetheless it is the path you are on."

The path eventually comes to an end in a less constrained space, with an open approach and broader view ahead, she added.

The charity said people are still able to dedicate one of the remaining butterflies

Rachel Jones, from Longfield Hospice, said when coming up with the butterfly appeal they wanted something the community could get behind and which could bring them together.

"It has been a really tough 15 months," she said.

"The community has really rallied for us, which has been fantastic, but all of our 20 shops had to shut very quickly, community fundraising had to stop and face-to-face fundraising couldn't go ahead, so it has been really challenging."

She also thanked everyone who had donated as the charity needed to raise £4m this year to support its work.