Hive Cancer Support Named Derry and Strabane Regional Champion at Live Here Love Here Awards
A Derry-based cancer support charity has been honoured as the Derry and Strabane Regional Champion at this year's Live Here Love Here awards, recognised for a project that weaves together environmental restoration and patient wellbeing in one of the most thoughtful community initiatives seen in the North West in recent years.
Background
Hive Cancer Support has been a cornerstone of the Derry community for years, providing practical and emotional assistance to those navigating cancer diagnoses and treatment. Operating from the city, the organisation has long understood that recovery and resilience are not confined to clinical settings — that green spaces, fresh air, and a sense of connection to the natural world can be as restorative as any medical intervention.
The Live Here Love Here programme, run by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, is one of the most respected community recognition schemes in the North. It celebrates groups and individuals who go beyond the ordinary to improve their local environment, whether through litter-picking campaigns, biodiversity projects, or the kind of imaginative, cross-purpose thinking that Hive Cancer Support has demonstrated. The awards draw entries from across all eleven council areas, making the regional champion designation a genuinely competitive and meaningful accolade.
Altnagelvin Area Hospital, which sits on the western bank of the Foyle and serves a vast catchment area stretching from Derry city into Donegal and across Tyrone, is one of the busiest hospitals in the Western Health and Social Care Trust. Its grounds, like those of many large NHS facilities, have historically been functional rather than beautiful — car parks, access roads, and service areas dominating the landscape. The idea of transforming even a portion of that environment into something living and therapeutic represents a genuine shift in thinking about what a hospital can be.
Key Developments
Hive Cancer Support's award-winning project centred on the planting of native trees on the grounds of Altnagelvin Hospital, creating a green corridor that patients, visitors, and staff can access during what are often the most difficult periods of their lives. The trees selected are indigenous species suited to the North West's climate and soil — species that will grow and mature over decades, outlasting any single generation of patients or volunteers.
The project was conceived with a dual purpose: to contribute meaningfully to local biodiversity and environmental health, while simultaneously providing a calming, restorative space for cancer patients who may spend extended periods at the hospital for chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or consultations. The therapeutic benefits of access to nature during illness are well-documented, and Hive Cancer Support's initiative puts that evidence into practice in a setting where it is most needed.
Judges at the Live Here Love Here awards praised the project for its originality and its capacity to deliver lasting impact. Unlike many environmental initiatives that focus solely on ecological outcomes, this one explicitly centres the human experience — recognising that the people who will benefit most from these trees are among the most vulnerable in the community.
Why It Matters
The recognition of Hive Cancer Support at the Live Here Love Here awards matters for reasons that extend well beyond the planting of a few dozen trees. It signals a growing understanding within Northern Ireland's voluntary sector that environmental and health outcomes are not separate concerns — that the quality of the spaces around us shapes our capacity to heal, to cope, and to find moments of peace amid difficulty.
For the Western Trust area, which has faced persistent challenges around waiting lists, staffing pressures, and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the new South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, community-led initiatives like this one provide something that no budget line can easily deliver: a sense of care and attention that goes beyond the clinical. The Derry and Strabane area has a strong tradition of community activism, and this award affirms that tradition is alive and finding new expressions.
It is also worth noting that cancer support charities in Northern Ireland operate in a funding environment that has grown increasingly pressured. The fact that Hive Cancer Support has channelled its energy not just into direct support services but into environmental improvement speaks to an organisation thinking creatively about how to maximise its impact. This is the kind of joined-up thinking that statutory bodies often struggle to replicate.
Local Impact
For patients attending Altnagelvin's oncology and haematology departments, the new green space offers something tangible: a place to sit, to breathe, and to feel briefly removed from the clinical environment of wards and waiting rooms. The hospital serves patients from across the Western Trust catchment, including communities in Strabane, Limavady, Omagh, and the Inishowen peninsula, many of whom travel significant distances for treatment.
For the wider Derry and Strabane community, the award brings positive recognition to a part of the city that has sometimes struggled to attract the kind of investment and attention that its needs warrant. The Waterside area, where Altnagelvin is located, has its own distinct character and community identity, and projects that improve the hospital environment benefit residents across both sides of the Foyle.
What's Next
Hive Cancer Support will now be considered for the overall Northern Ireland Live Here Love Here champion title, with the national awards ceremony expected later in the year. The organisation has indicated it intends to build on the Altnagelvin project, exploring further opportunities to expand the green space and potentially introduce sensory garden elements that could benefit patients with specific needs. Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful has expressed interest in using the project as a model for similar initiatives at other hospital sites across the region.
