With gardens at its heart, it is hardly surprising that the team at the Greenfingers charity is currently in the midst of several garden builds with many more on the horizon, together marking an incredibly busy year for the charity. Here we find out more about the gardens that will join the Greenfingers roster in 2021 and beyond.
St Oswald’s Hospice – Newcastle
There is no question that the pandemic has impacted the garden builds earmarked for Greenfingers’ 2020 and 2021 to-do lists. The 61st garden – St Oswald’s in Newcastle – saw its grand opening delayed due to COVID-19, a new date will be announced shortly. This new garden includes a play area with accessible play equipment, as well as the existing summerhouse which has been given a makeover, complemented with new seating areas and a stunning willow wall to add impact and interesting architectural lines.
Haven House – Woodford Green, Essex
Over at Haven House in Essex, the garden has been transformed thanks to the incredible efforts of the team at AMES who took part in a planting day, helping to bed in some of the 1,000 plants kindly donated by Scotscapes Landscaping and using compost donating by Evergreen Garden Care. These plants have joined the existing planting scheme created by Stewarts Landscapes, who have been bringing to life the vision for the garden created by award-winning RHS Chelsea designer, Tom Hoblyn. Further donations have also come from Smart Garden and The Solar Centre, both providing gorgeous lights to help bring the garden to life during the night.
Ty Hafan – Vale of Glamorgan
Greenfingers 63rd garden has broken ground at Ty Hafanin the Vale of Glamorgan. As one of the UK’s leading paediatric palliative care services, offering care to children and support for their families throughout Wales, a sensory garden was a much-needed part of the support on offer and, of course, Greenfingers was only too happy to help. This new garden space, designed by Victoria Wade, has been designed to increase biodiversity, sustainability and will be a haven for wildlife, enabling the children to connect with the natural world. We are grateful to The Heritage Lottery, the Postcode Lottery and many more friends of Greenfingers for supporting this project.
The Nook – Norfolk
East Anglia’s Children Hospice’s (EACH) newest site The Nook – officially opened by HRH, The Duchess of Cambridge in 2019 –is set tobecome one of Greenfingers’ flagship garden projects, Thanks to generous donations from leading skincare brand, Clarins and the Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association (LOFA), the work to start the Nest & Reflect Garden along with some of the gardens infrastructure will begin in earnest shortly.
Designed by Ann-Marie Powell, this special space – the first of many gardens to be built at The Nook – will feature quiet corners where families can relax together, whilst a racetrack for wheelchairs, wind mobiles, a forest school and a bright outdoor classroom with a green roof amongst a meadow and plenty of beautiful trees, all connected by accessible winding pathways will complete this garden which is designed to encourage participation and not just spectating.
Forthcoming gardens
Three additional Greenfingers gardens are also in the first stages of development.
Demelza Hospice Care for Children, based in Sittingbourne – the site of Greenfingers’ first-ever garden – has recently seen Andrew Fisher Tomlin from multi-award-winning garden designers, Fisher Tomlin & Bowyer, appointed as designer for this project. Andrew has previously created the stunning ‘Let’s Explore’ garden at Richard House Children’s Hospice in East London and will be looking to work his magic again at Demelza where the garden space will be refreshed for the first time since its creation back in 1999.
Greenfingers is also working with Derian House in Chorley and Jigsaw Children’s Hospice in Carlisle. The charity looks forward to both gardens coming to life in 2022.
Garden Makeovers
Thanks to a generous donation from a private donor, the charity is now able to revisit hospices they have worked with in the past to ensure their very old Greenfingers gardens continue to be useable spaces. Helen & Douglas House in Oxford and Keech Hospice Care in Luton have recently benefitted from the initiative.
Linda Petrons, Director of Fundraising & Communications said: “We’re so pleased that, despite the pressures of the pandemic, we are able to continue to create gardens at a wide range of locations. All the hospices we are working with are so deserving of these garden spaces, and we are so appreciative to every person, team, company, designer and product donation that come together to make each garden possible.
“We look forward to sharing further details regarding the development of all our gardens in the coming months.”
Find out more
To find out more about Greenfingers Charity, and how to get involved in a range of fundraising events please email Linda@greenfingerscharity.org.uk.
You can also join in the conversation by joining Greenfingers on social media – https://www.facebook.com/Greenfingerscharity/, @GreenfingersCha on Twitter, and @Greenfingerscharity on Instagram and LinkedIn.
About Greenfingers Charity
Greenfingers is a national charity dedicated to supporting life-limited children and their families who spend time in hospices around the UK. The charity is committed to creating, beautiful, well-designed outdoor spaces for children to enjoy with family, friends and siblings, whether through play and fun, or therapeutic rest and relaxation. To date Greenfingers Charity has created over 60 inspiring gardens in children’s hospices around the country and has a further waiting list of hospices that need help.