A show garden created by Nantwich students to support a charity appeal for Leighton Hospital has won a silver gilt medal at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
The ‘Remember Me Garden’ is part of Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity’s ‘Everybody Knows Somebody’ Dementia Appeal.
The appeal aims to raise £1.5 million to enhance wards and departments at Leighton Hospital which care for people with dementia or a cognitive impairment.
Elements of the garden, which narrowly missed being awarded a gold medal, will be relocated at Leighton Hospital after the show.
Reaseheath College trained garden designers Jane Bingham and Penny Hearn created the show garden, using memories to create a ‘home from home’ outdoor space for people with dementia.
The garden also took visitors on a journey from first diagnosis to potentially 24-hour care.
A focal point was provided by a ‘Room of Inklings’, a hexagonal wooden structure containing objects in bottles and glass containers which can spark happy memories from the past and trigger communication.
The garden planting style, in large colourful drifts, was reminiscent of the 1960s.
Jane, who has her own company ‘The Cheshire Garden’, became friends with fellow student Penny while studying garden design at Reaseheath.
Since then they have returned to college to gain their well recognised RHS Level 2 and Level 3 Diplomas in Horticulture.
Jane said: “Dementia is a key topic in today’s society and both Penny and I would like to make the public aware of the effects of the disease and of the care that is available.
“Both our families have been touched by dementia, so we are keen personally to support the ‘Everyone Knows Somebody’ Dementia Appeal through this garden.”
Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity Manager Laura Riddle said: “We are very excited to have our first charity show garden at RHS Tatton and we are delighted at such a wonderful result.
“We’d like to thank Jane and Penny for all their hard work and dedication to this project.”
The garden was built by Greenbelt Landscapes, which has among its team Jill Turner and Ryan Henley who have both gained professional qualifications in horticulture at Reaseheath.
(Pictured, above: Jane Bingham and Penny Hearn celebrate their silver gilt medal)
(Pictured, below: Jane Bingham and Penny Hearn joined by The High Sheriff of Cheshire Sarah Callander Beckett and Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff Caroline Hulme, Linda Ormson, Alison Lynch and Laura Riddle)
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