We’re delighted to welcome a beautiful garden at our Guildford based hospice, Christopher’s, courtesy of wealth management company Brewin Dolphin and award-winning garden designer, Paul Hervey-Brookes.
The garden has been donated and repurposed from the silver-medal winning Brewin Dolphin garden that Paul designed with sustainability at its heart for this year’s prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which took place at the end of May. Throughout the week the garden, which was created with an emphasis on repurposing and reusing existing materials, was appreciated not only by the show judges and visitors, but also by our Vice-President, Dame Joan Collins. There was also a special plant sale on the last day of the show, where any unused plants were available to buy, with all proceeds going to Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
Our garden spaces are particularly enjoyed by families having been specially designed for the needs of the children in mind. From adapted play equipment and sensory trails to open areas to sit and reflect. Many of the children we support have complex medical conditions and limited ways of interacting with the world, so colours and smells of a garden can be a wonderful way of providing them with fun sensory experiences.
Following previous visits earlier in the year to prep the area of the hospice garden, it was all hands-on deck last week, as a wealth of wonderful volunteers from Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and Brewin Dolphin’s 8 Waterloo Place office in St James’s, joined designer Paul Hervey-Brookes over two days to repurpose the beautiful plants from the renowned show into their new home.
Paul Hervey-Brookes said, “Being able to do something long-term and sustainable with the Brewin Dolphin Garden post-Chelsea is wonderful and there really isn’t a better new home for it than somewhere like Christopher’s. Creating a space where children and families can sit and take a moment, no matter what they’re going through, to watch wildlife and enjoy nature is incredibly rewarding.”
Nick Hammond, Chief of Staff for 1762 from Brewin Dolphin said, “Spending the day planting at Christopher’s under the guidance of Paul was a great way for the Brewin Dolphin team to bond in support of such a fantastic organisation. There’s no doubt that this unique opportunity to combine our long-standing association with RHS Chelsea Flower Show and our relationship with Shooting Star Children’s Hospices has been a huge success.”
Anne Carey, Head of Corporate Engagement at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, “We’re absolutely delighted to have had the opportunity to work alongside the celebrated garden designer Paul Hervey-Brookes and the 1762 from Brewin Dolphin team. They’ve already supported us in many ways over the last few months and so to have been able to work with them on such a prestigious project is a real honour. The use of the plants at Christopher’s will really enhance the garden for children and families who use that space.”
A huge thank you to our amazing dedicated volunteers and everyone else involved for their hard work over the two days transforming the space for families to enjoy for many years to come!
Photo credit Roger Brown Photography
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