Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Help for Heroes


I know it's a little early to start the Chelsea previews, but this is in a good cause. One of the show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show this year is by the charity Help for Heroes, designed by Drusilla Stewart and William Beresford of  All Seasons Design, and sponsored by B&Q.
Help for Heroes was started in 2007 to provide support to the wounded servicemen and women of the UK. They now raise approximately £1 million a month and provide direct help to those wounded and their families. You can read more about what they do on their 
website.
The garden will be a symbolic sanctuary, where those who do not return safely can find focus and the peace with which to deal with either physical or mental trauma after the ordeal of operations.
Drusilla's own husband is going to Afghanistan in May and the design was conceived after chatting to the wives of servicemen whose husbands are about to deploy with him.  
Drusilla says B&Q have generously given money to help them build the garden, but now that they are about to start building the garden at Chelsea, they are calling on friends, family and business contacts to help them reach their fundraising target of £30,000 for Help for Heroes .
If you would like to help, you can do so in two ways. Go to the
fundraising page and make a donation. Or buy a limited edition Petunia 'Help for Heroes Mix' at B&Q stores. £2.35 from every £5 pack will go to the charity, and the flowers will be in the stores in the week commencing Monday 18 May (Chelsea Flower Show week).
If anyone is going to the show, Help the Heroes will be giving away wristbands and badges, and encouraging visitors to donate money into the “Wishing Well", and they will also be selling plants from the garden when the show ends on Saturday 24 May.
The “Help for Heroes Sanctuary Garden” itself will also be auctioned off at the end of the show and the hope is that a green-fingered philanthropist will come along and donate a big chunk of money to have the garden recreated in their own backyard. The design can be adapted to any sized garden, domestic or commercial.

The Chelsea Flower Show runs from 19 to 23 May. For further information on the show, or to purchase tickets, click here.