On Sunday 8th September Horatio’s Garden Stoke Mandeville opened on behalf of the National Garden Scheme for the very first time, which coincidentally fell on the same day as the garden’s first birthday!
With the bunting up, the sun shining and over 250 visitors, including patients and hospital staff, it was the perfect time to celebrate. The team received many wonderful comments from visitors regarding just how beautiful the garden was and there was a joyful, positive feeling felt by all.
Everyone showed their appreciation to all the volunteers for their dedication to the garden, including Head Gardener Jacqui Martin-Löf who said “all the flowerbeds were deserving of a Chelsea gold medal”. On the day itself there were a total of 28 volunteers, including friends and family of Horatio’s Garden volunteers, and we were also lucky enough to be supported by seven Queen’s Nurses too. Over 60 cakes were donated to the day, with the majority being homemade by volunteers and all of which were enjoyed enormously by visitors.
Our first opening of Horatio’s Garden Stoke Mandeville was certainly a resounding success, with your kindness raising over £1000 for the garden. Aside from this, you also helped to fundraise on behalf of the National Garden Scheme, who continue to support us and thousands of other charities across the country.
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The following week we were in Horatio’s Garden Salisbury, once again welcoming visitors to explore the space and to learn a little more about how the garden has been uniquely designed to offer colour and interest all year round.
The weather was incredibly kind to us and everyone appreciated the sights and sounds of the garden whilst bathed in glorious sunshine. Alike to the volunteer team in Stoke Mandeville, everyone worked incredibly hard to prepare the garden for its big moment and many were there on the day itself to share their wonderful stories with visitors.
Naturally, there was an abundance of delicious homemade cakes all kindly made by volunteers too, with many people resting in the September shade to savour their treats!
The National Garden Scheme have committed to funding 25% of the costs of all our future gardens and have previously donated a total of £180,000 to both Horatio’s Garden Stoke Mandeville and Horatio’s Garden Oswestry. We are so grateful to everyone who joined us for the open day, and it was our pleasure to spend another afternoon supporting National Garden Scheme.
