Greenfingers, one of our two charity partners, is having a busy year, and its work is going ahead with your help.
Opened this year, the garden at Helen and Douglas House, Oxford, includes this structure with a kaleidoscope effect
Greenfingers creates much-needed green spaces for children’s hospices and, just begun, is the multi-functional garden for Andy’s at St Andrew’s Hospice, Grimsby, where children and young people with any progressive, life-limiting illness are given free palliative care.
The garden’s already been described as having a magical feeling with its pirate theme, a tunnel leading to a water feature, a summer house which will be used for film shows and games, as well as interactive features with lots of surprises, all of which give the children space for play, learning, therapy and rest.
Keech Hospice Care, Luton, is another Greenfingers project completed this year
Most important, though, is its complete accessibility to wheelchairs and beds. Designed by Jody Lidgard of Bespoke Outdoor Spaces (whose work we featured in our round-up of Chelsea 2017 where he used Sawn Buff Sandstone Planks to show off Emma Stothard’s lovely sculptures), it will provide a welcome relief to the children who are the hospice’s patients, and their families and visitors, all of whom will be able to spend precious time together in natural, leafy surroundings away from the more clinical atmosphere of the indoors.
Jody completed the outdoor space at Keech Hospice, a garden Greenfingers opened this year in Luton. “When he heard about the Grimsby project, he really wanted to do it as it meant giving something back to his home town,” says Linda Petrons, Head of Fundraising. “He’s given the design for free and been really, really generous with his time.”
With around eight hospices currently on the waiting list for gardens, there’s plenty of work lined up for the future. “The way it works is that a hospice will apply, we fundraise, make sure we’ve got the money. Andy’s has been on the waiting list for over a year.”
So far London Stone has raised over £1000 for Greenfingers. We’ve been their charity partner since 2015 and our donations go towards whichever is the current project, bringing completion just that step nearer each time.
Greenfingers’ patron Ann-Marie Powell and Amanda Beale cut the ribbon at Helen and Douglas House, Oxford
Next on the agenda is Grace House, Sunderland, designed by Sean Murray, who won the Chelsea Challenge in 2015, with phase II of his garden scheduled for January/February 2018.
One way in which London Stone donates money to Greenfingers (and to Perennial, our other charity partner, whom we’ll update you on in a few weeks), is through our Landscape Specialist Scheme. For every new member we donate £10 split between Greenfingers and Perennial.
Completely free, and offering a list of benefits including a business profile on our website, and enhanced discounts, our Landscape Specialist Scheme is our way of making your job a bit easier. If you haven’t already, click through to join up now.
NB Don’t miss Greenfingers’ annual Re-leaf Day on March 16th next year, raising money through your business. For more details, visit www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk.
