Popular Newcastle City Centre shopping and dining destination, Eldon Square, joins forces with Newcastle Hospitals Charity to raise awareness of the gift of organ donation through engaging in-centre LEGO® activities, including an installation of a realistic LEGO® replica of a human heart, and LEGO® workshops run by a local LEGO® Architect.
Beginning on the 14th of February, the centre will exhibit a LEGO® replica of a heart organ commissioned by Newcastle Hospitals Charity, the official charity for Newcastle Hospitals, and created by local LEGO® Architect, Steve Mayes from Brick This. The unique piece of art will be showcased on St Andrew’s Way for one week until it finds its permanent home in one of the wards of the Freeman Hospital.
The final day of the exhibition will be celebrated by an in-centre event brought to visitors by Newcastle Hospitals Charity in partnership with Eldon Square. Steve will be hosting two LEGO® workshops, accompanied by a guest appearance from one of the Freeman Hospitals’ specialist nurses from the Northern Organ Donation Services Team. Taking place on the 21st of February, the “A LEGO® Heart is just the start” event will see two LEGO® workshop sessions running from 11 AM to 1 PM and from 2 PM to 4 PM, with the first 25 visitors to each session getting the unique opportunity to build and take home a miniature LEGO® heart. Following the heart-building sessions, Steve will lead a creative LEGO® building session whilst parents can learn about the exceptional work taking place in The Institute of Transplantation, supported by Newcastle Hospitals Charity.
With both, Eldon Square and Newcastle Hospitals Charity playing a key role in supporting the local community, their partnership is set to bring further collaboration between the two organisations with the aim being to serve and support the North-East region.
Naomi Osborne, Acting Marketing Manager at Eldon Square, said: “Newcastle Hospitals Charity plays such a crucial, but often hidden, role in supporting vital care for the region; as such, we are delighted to be partnering with them. It is truly rewarding to give the charity a temporary home, a platform, within our centre from which they can educate the community about their charity, their activities and how the public can support them.
It means a lot to us to have the opportunity to shed some light on organ donation during this critical week and to have been able to support the charity in such an original and engaging way.”
Teri Bayliss, Newcastle Hospitals Charity Director, added: “We are very excited to be working with Eldon Square for this Organ Donor Day campaign, raising awareness of the gift of organ donation as well as celebrating the incredible work that takes place right on our doorstep, in the Institute of Transplantation. The LEGO hearts that Steve has designed are a really fun, creative and visual medium through which we can teach the people and, in particular, the children of our community all about the life-changing gift of organ donation.
Eldon Square and Newcastle Hospitals Charity are both at the very heart of our region, so it seemed only appropriate to run our workshops here in the centre; we felt it was right to show the people of Newcastle just how lucky we are to live in such close proximity to a centre of excellence like the Institute of Transplantation.”.
This partnership is part of Eldon Square’s ongoing commitment to supporting its community through meaningful, and impactful collaborations with local partners.
You can find more information on the LEGO heart event here: https://eldonsquare.co.uk/tag/lego/
