摘要: The family of a teenager who tragically killed herself have turned the tree where she was found hanged into a 'symbol of beauty'.Quinn Beadle was just 17 when she took her own life at the end of her s ...
The family of a teenager who tragically killed herself have turned the tree where she was found hanged into a 'symbol of beauty'. Quinn Beadle was just 17 when she took her own life at the end of her street - just yards from her front door on December 9, 2018. Moments earlier "kind and funny" Quinn had ordered her favourite Chicken Korma for a family takeaway meal and put the clothes she was going to wear the next day in the wash before "popping out". Her father, David, 38, came across the tragic scene 20 minutes later when he went to walk the family dogs and saw paramedics and police. The following morning the family laid flowers at the tree where Quinn was found and within hours the wasteland area had been turned into a sea of colour with floral tributes from friends and complete strangers . From this outpouring of love was born Quinn's Garden - a place of reflection and sanctuary for anybody who needs it. Quinn's mum Tracey, dad and brother Dyllon also fundraised to create a permanent memorial. The family visit the garden every morning to say 'hello' to their daughter and again in the evenings to say 'goodnight'. Tracey, 39, said: "Quinn was our beautiful 17 year old daughter, she was kind, funny, stubborn, quirky, crazy and amazing. Sadly one day, she decided that life was just too hard for her. "She walked to the end of our street and hung herself from a little tree, a tree that doesn't even look strong enough to have held her. "At first all we wanted to do was cut that tree down, burn it, and never set eyes on it again; However the day after she took her own life, myself my husband David and our son Dyllon went to the florist and bought the most beautiful flowers and tied them to the tree. "That tree was the last thing to have felt our daughters touch, the last thing that she saw. "As the days went on Quinn's friends brought more flowers with the loveliest message. "Our neighbours also brought flowers, people who didn't even know Quinn brought flowers and candles and that little tree soon became a symbol of beauty to us. It became a place for reflection, and even more important, a place to remember our lovely Quinn. "We didn't want it to be this awful place that we didn't want to look at again. "We wanted to reclaim the tree and make it something beautiful. A space that everyone can use that can provide a sanctuary for people." The area, known as the Black Path, is now an explosion of colour looking "more beautiful every week" with new flowers being planted. A local firm have made bug hotels and bird boxes and a special bench with a dedication plaque from Quinn's parents and another from her brother, who has quoted lines from 'Girl In Amber' by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds has just been installed. Tracey said: "It's somewhere that everyone and anyone can sit, and think of her and the memories they have shared with her. "We want it to be as bright, colourful and as beautiful as she was. "Every week something gets added, a candle, a bird hanging from the tree. "Quinn was supposed to have gone on her first girls' holiday to Ibiza a few weeks ago. Her friends brought back a little bottle with sand and shells from the beach and a heart which they hung from the tree because they felt like Quinn was with them. "We go and sit there all of the time. Every morning we pop by and say hello to her when we walk the dogs. It makes us feel at peace I guess, like we are close to her. "That little tree was the last thing to have felt our daughter's touch and that makes it incredibly special to us. On an evening the area is all lit up with fairy lights and it looks even more beautiful, again we go most evenings just to say goodnight. "Dyllon took a branch from the tree when he went back to Manchester as I know he also feels some kind of connection to it." The family raised far more than was expected and have now launched the charity Quinn's Retreat to help other families who are going through a similar experience get some respite. Quinn, who was a paper girl and also worked in the local fruit and veg store, was due to go away with her family on a Christmas break. After her death, brother Dyllon, 21, asked if they could still go. "We were going to stay in the Peak District," said Tracey. "Quinn's funeral was on December 21 and my son said he'd really like it if we could still go away so we went to this lovely little cottage. "It just helped us all, the three of us to be together. It gave us that space to not be in the town where we live in. "We wouldn't have left our house over Christmas if we had stayed. We took the dogs for walks and it just gave us some respite so we decided we'd like to give that to other families in a similar situation. "We want to provide short breaks to families who have lost a loved one due to suicide, but also to people and their families who are feeling low, suffering from depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. "Simply a break away from the trials of everyday life, giving them the chance to breathe again... This will be Quinn's story, and it will never end. "We're in the process of setting up Quinn's Retreat as a registered charity. The first phase is to buy a static caravan and put it somewhere very beautiful. Then we want to work with other charities to recommend people they think would benefit from a break." |