HOSPICE mascot Lenny Bear has been helping Sheila Markwick prepare her garden for the public.

Among the attractions in her nursery rhyme garden, in Albion Avenue, Acomb, York, is a teddy bears' picnic, Humpty Dumpty, and Alice in Wonderland figures.

Next weekend, she is opening the garden to the public to raise funds for St Leonard's Hospice.

She has opened the mature garden, which has a pond and stream, in aid of the hospice for several years. She will be selling plants and small garden ornaments.

June is Hospice Awareness Month, and Mrs Markwick hopes that to mark it, visitors will wear something yellow - the colour of sunflowers, the symbol of the Hospice Movement.

A hospice spokeswoman said: "Sheila's garden has something for everyone, and we are delighted that she is opening it again this year to raise money for St Leonard's."