At the age of 32, Candice Wren found herself in the agonising position of having lost both her parents within 18 months of each other. Feeling overcome with grief she threw herself into an unusual occupation - making bird boxes to honour lost loved ones. “Pouring myself into making personalised birdhouses has been an escape,” says Candice, now 38, from Chelmsford in Essex.
“I can’t change what happened, but if I can bring comfort to others, that brings me happiness.” She crafted her first birdhouse for her mother in memory of her father Kevin, who died in September 2016. He had suffered with high blood pressure and experienced mini strokes called TIAs (transient ischemic attacks) in 2015, before being diagnosed with pheochromocytoma, a one-in-a-million adrenal gland cancer, and given just two years' life expectancy.
When he died, Candice and her family were devastated. As a gift to mark what would have been Kevin’s 56th birthday in March 2017, Candice bought a £5 birdhouse from Wilko and personalised it for her mother Julie. Using a vinyl-cutting machine she carved out the phrase, “When the robins appear, you know Kev is near,” and stuck it on the side of the box.
The gift brought her mother to tears. But Candice’s heartbreak was far from over. On June 18, 2018, Julie, 57, experienced extreme pains in her side - signs of a heart attack.
Despite being rushed into hospital, she collapsed and died. “Mum started to feel unwell in the afternoon, went to the do.