A garden which aims to raise awareness of dementia will be a focal point of this year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
The Remember Me garden will be a collaboration between the Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity and Jane Bingham and Penny Hearn of The Cheshire Garden.
All funds raised by the Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity are used to help enhance their provision of first-class health care for the whole family.
The RHS Flower Show garden aims to raise awareness of dementia and its effects among the people of Cheshire and their families.
The team behind the garden are thrilled to have been awarded one of the highly coveted spots in the future spaces category, of which only three are awarded by the show organisers.
Future spaces is about creating outdoor (green) spaces for the future – tailoring future spaces to specifically suit individuals with conditions such as dementia can be beneficial.
In the case of the Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity garden, this is about looking back in time in order to enjoy the present and the future.
The design concept of the show garden focuses on evoking memories in order to enhance the person with dementia’s experience of their environment and reduce agitation and distress.
The designers have looked to create a ‘home from home’ outdoor space where people with dementia or a cognitive impairment can enjoy the freedom to be themselves.
It aims to educate and inform visitors of the journey that someone with dementia takes, from first diagnosis through to potentially 24-hour care.
Visitors to the garden at the show will experience a memory shed called the room of inklings which contains items in glass containers such as sea shells, old seed packets, marbles and garden tools, which are designed to spark memories by representing the memories of the past and happy times during childhood.
The actual planting represents the deterioration of the mind – at one side of the garden the planting will be organised in large colourful drifts with memories of planting styles from the 1960s and 70s with many flowers chosen to attract butterflies including Buddleja, which gradually becomes more faded and muddled, ending in a completely mixed up wildflower meadow.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity manager Laura Riddle said: “I am very excited to have our first ever charity show garden at RHS Flower Tatton Park 2017. I am very thankful to Jane Bingham and Penny Hearn for all their hard work on and dedication to this project.
“It is very timely for us to undertake this event with the launch of our new brand featuring a butterfly that symbolises transformation, a very relevant and important theme for our garden.”
Designer Jane Bingham of The Cheshire Garden said: “Dementia is a key topic currently in society and the public should be aware of the effects and care that is available to them.
“As both mine and Penny’s families have been touched by dementia, we know first hand the effects which is why I was so keen personally to support The Dementia Appeal through the creation of the garden and I am excited to have some parts of the garden return to Crewe following this beautiful event.”
The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park runs from Wednesday, July 19 (RHS members only) until Sunday, July 23.
Tickets are available via the RHS website: http://rhstattonpark.seetickets.com/content/
Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity’s new Dementia Appeal aims to raise in the region of £1.5 million to provide environmental enhancements to the wards and departments at Leighton Hospital caring for people with dementia or a cognitive impairment.
The Remember Me Garden is supported by extremely kind sponsorship from headline sponsor 4YourHome Part of the Qualtex Global Group and also by County Homesearch Northwest, along with many other suppliers of materials to be used in the garden’s creation.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity is inviting more to get involved through corporate sponsorships to support the garden.
To be a sponsor contact Laura Riddle at 01270 273 248 or email charity@mcht.nhs.uk.
