Hedgehog paintings provide lasting cheer for ‘Alibongo’

A WOMAN has helped raise more than £1,000 for charity by illustrating handmade cards.

Jeny Sarreti, from Benson, painted watercolour pictures of hedgehogs which her daughter Daska Emery turned into cards to raise money for the hospice whose staff are caring for her terminally ill best friend.

The cards were an immediate success as 200 were sold within the first fortnight and Ms Sarreti has donated the rights to her design to the Rennie Grove Care hospice charity so it can sell the cards in all of its shops in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The charity has five hospices, including Rennie House in Tring, which is caring for Daska’s friend Alison Downing, 53, who has terminal breast cancer.

Daska, from Bourne End, said: “In January 2021, she was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread and was terminal, beyond the normal treatment route.

“She had been on medication for two years and then the drugs stopped working. She is now at home and being cared for by nurses from Rennie House. She has got a very short time left. It’s not great but her mind is still there so we chat. The nurses try to keep her comfortable.

“She was diagnosed with primary breast cancer when she was just turning 40. She had the lump removed and went through the whole gruelling process of chemotherapy. The cancer was quite aggressive but not terminal.”

The three women started painting together following Alison’s terminal diagnosis more than two years ago.

Daska said: “My mum is a really good watercolour artist. She provides classes to the National Trust at Cliveden. She started painting 10 or 12 years ago and realised she was really good at it. After the diagnosis, I said to Alison: ‘Let’s go and paint with mum’.

“We have done fairly regular sessions with my mum and she has taught us different techniques. It has been great and we have found that we are getting better. We were quite surprised at our abilities.

“Alison has always liked hedgehogs. As a child, her mum made her hedgehog cakes. She has built hedgehog houses in her garden and set up a webcam to watch them. They recently had babies and she watched them on the webcams and posted it to Facebook.

“A few weeks ago, I said to my mum: ‘Could you paint Alison a hedgehog?’ She had never painted one before but said she would give it a go and ended up coming up with two different designs, both of which were brilliant. When I was going to get it framed, I realised Alison wouldn’t be able to enjoy it for long and it seemed a shame for it to just hang in her house. I thought we could raise money by getting some cards printed.”

The cards were printed by Higgs Group, publishers of the Henley Standard, the first batch free.

Daska said: “We gave them to the Rennie Grove shop in Bourne End as a thank-you for looking after Alison and also for looking after her mum, who spent her last days with them.

“They absolutely loved it and have the cards on sale in there. Alison also put something on Facebook saying: ‘Anyone that’s not local and can’t get into the shop can buy them through us. They sell for £3.50 each’.”

One hedgehog is called Alibongo, which is Daska’s nickname for Alison. She said: “She has got the original on her wall at home. People have ordered loads. I sat next to her in bed batching up cards and wrapping ribbons around them and attaching ‘thank you’ messages.

“Rennie Grove are delighted to have the cards and are going to take the rights to use them. They will have the hedgehog cards branded with their logo and are going to roll them out to all their shops. They will be sold with a piece about Alison and the connection between her and my mum. They are also going to use the cards to give to people who make donations as they like to send a ‘thank you’ and this is ideal for that because of the personal touch.

“There is longevity to the cards as well because they will always be in Alison’s memory. She thinks it is amazing and is very excited.

“We have raised more than £1,200 so far. My mum was blown away as she’s always thinking everything she does is rubbish.

“I’m really chuffed and proud of myself because this came out of just me going: ‘We can make something more out of this rather than just giving her a painting’.”