A POIGNANT talk about palliative care and the power of nature has raised cash for special artwork at Sobell House Hospice.

The Headington hospice staged an evening at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre in partnership with Blackwell's, presenting Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.

The duo respectively wrote and illustrated the award-winning children's book The Lost Words, which explore nature-related words using acrostic poetry.

Sobell doctor Rachel Clarke, a prominent NHS campaigner and bestselling writer, joined them on Friday for discussion in front of 500 people, featuring stories and music from Sobell patients.

Dominique Cadiou, head of fundraising and communication at Sobell, described the event as 'beautiful'.

She added: "It made me really proud to work for Sobell House and told the audience what we are all about.

"We had patients talking about their relationship with nature and death and how they found solace in the natural world."

Ticket prices will pay for the cost of reproducing artwork from the pages of the The Lost Words, to display on the walls of Sobell's new garden annex.

The talk was followed by an auction at Blackwell's, featuring items including an ink otter painting and handwritten spell from The Lost Words.

Writing on her blog on Saturday, illustrator Ms Morris said the discussion centred on art, writing, nature, life and death.

Asking herself what made the event special, she mentioned music composed by patients during their time at Sobell, played to the audience on the night.

She said Dr Clarke displayed 'fierce intelligence and desire to help people live to the last moment''.

Ms Morris, listing other special aspects of the event, added: "The coming together of people to celebrate life and the wilder world.

"The strong feeling of hope that thrummed through the room like sap through trees. That warmth.

"Outside the city buzzed with commerce but in that space, for a moment it seemed it was time to stop, take stock, move forward with life."

She wrote that the natural world has the power to 'still the heart, drop away the tensions [and] lift the soul', adding: "It’s not that the natural world is a benign blanket to wrap up in.

"It’s fierce, can be deadly, and yet always it is the trees I turn to, the birds, weather, the sound of wild water in the form of rain, river or sea."

A comment on the blog, posted by an audience member, stated: "It was extraordinary- such eloquence, both verbally and visually as well as acoustically.

" I was in bits but put together by the overwhelming love in that wonderful space. It was a special Oxford moment in time."

Another wrote: "It was a magical event, celebrating life, nature, art, words, families, medical healthcare and community."