A MEMORIAL garden is to be created at Birchwood High School inspired by brave Eve Shepherd.

The 14-year-old, who had undergone more than 200 operations after needing a tracheostomy at just three months old, died suddenly on February 1 after struggling with her breathing.

Now Eve's teachers and friends are fundraising for a garden in her memory. It will also honour nine other Birchwood High pupils who have died over the last 30 years.

Her dad Mark said: "Eve would have been in year 11 this year and a lot of her friends have been finding it hard to cope with her loss.

"Hopefully the garden will be somewhere kids can go to remember her or have time out if they're stressed with exams.

"It's also somewhere we can go if we're struggling."

The school is about half way towards its fundraising goal of £4,000 for the garden after recently being awarded £500 from the North of England Horticultural Society.

The project will transform a 5m by 6m patch of wasteland at the Brock Road school and will include a pergola and carvings of butterflies – a symbol of short life – on the paving slabs.

There will also be a reading area and an ornamental bookcase with the names of the pupils who have died on the spines of the books.

Eve was an avid reader who loved Rainbow Rowell, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock books and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

Retired head teacher Anne Bright is leading the project. She was at Birchwood High for 30 years.

She said: "I've sadly known 10 children over those 30 years who have died and I thought this would provide them with a lasting legacy.

"The aim is to create a garden where families and children can go to cope with the stress of bereavement.

"Eve's parents are still grieving deeply and they can go there too."

Mark added: "The legacy Eve has left has been unbelievable. We always knew that Eve was well loved but we've been overwhelmed by the support."

- If you have any fundraising ideas for the memorial garden or have any gardening expertise you can share call the school on 853500.