HAMPSHIRE
I would like to update you with what is happening within the National Garden Scheme.
Every Thursday more ‘Virtual Garden Tours’ are being added to our website:- ngs.org.uk In the great scheme of things these are becoming more and more popular and proving very uplifting to all our supporters.
Week commencing 8th May would have been our Gardens and Health Week. We did still celebrate this with some very moving stories and video’s from people to whom their gardens and gardening proved a real release from some of the stresses of life and the impact of their health issues. These stories were ably introduced by Rachel de Thame, who is not only a renowned Gardener and Presenter, but an Ambassador for the NGS. Rachel openly discusses her own recent issues with breast cancer . You can find Rachel’s introduction here https://ngs.org.uk/gardens-and-health-week/ and click on Watch Now.
In my Mach Newsletter I mentioned that the NGS had set up a ‘Just Giving’ page. It very quickly became apparent that this was not the best way forward, so it was very soon dropped in favour of our own in house account. You can rest assured that 100% of your donation goes to our charity - we do not have someone sat there creaming a % off the top!! The donations from our Virtual Tours currently exceeds £50,000.00 This is extremely generous and will go some small way to support our charities. It is now even easier to donate - via your smart phone. Simply text GARDENS (5, 10 or 20) to 70085. Text cost the donation amount plus one standard message rate. Please ensure to leave a space between GARDENS and the number (5, 10 or 20).
Whilst our ‘Virtual Garden Tours' have proved very popular and people have been very generous with their donations, there is nothing like the real thing. To this end the NGS has in place procedures for when we get the green light to open our gardens to the general public again. Things won’t be quite the same though, as a result of Coronavirus.
1) All visits will have to be pre-booked online and a ticket will be issued. This is a very simple operation - if you can read this email, you will be able to book tickets.
2) The tickets will be issued for timed slots, and limited numbers per slot, to comply with social distancing.
3) There will be no refreshments and plant sales are still under discussion.
Our main priority is to protect our volunteers, our garden owners and our garden visitors. Some garden owners may not be able to open for a variety of reasons - size, access or health issues. Whether a garden opens or not is strictly down to the garden owner. So we are all ready to go…..we just have to wait for the Governments decision to allow us to do so, along with RHS and NT.
I’m sure it has not passed you by, that this week should have been the Chelsea Flower Show - don’t forget your Chelsea chop! On our website you will find a celebration of this from five esteemed garden designers, with 30 Gold Medals between them. As this is the bi-centenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the Florence Nightingale Garden was planned - deigned by Robert Myers. It will now feature in Chelsea 2021. You can have a sneak pre-view of this https://ngs.org.uk/robert-myers-the-florence-nightingale-garden/
Finally I will leave you with some images from our Hampshire Garden Owners - all from their own gardens.
GREAT COLOUR COMBINATION
Courtesy of Jonathan & Sheila Richards. of POVEY’S COTTAGE STONEY HEATH BAUGHURST RG26 5SN: NEW FOR 2020 AND WERE DUE TO OPEN IN JUNE & JULY:
SO DELICATE AND INTRICATE
AQUALEGIA: Courtesey of Audrey & Jonathan Crutchfield: 146 BRIDGE ROAD SARISBURY GREEN SO31 7EJ: WERE DUE TO OPEN IN MAY:
BEARDED IRIS
Courtesy of David & Victoria Wormsley: THE OLD RECTORY E. WOODHAY RG20 0AL: WERE OPENING FOR GROUPS:
REFLECTIONS:
Courtesey of Tessa & Clive Redshaw: SPITFIRE HOUSE STOCKBRIDGE SO20 6JS: WERE DUE TO OPEN IN JUNE AND JULY:
It would be amazing if the next time I contact you I could tell you which of our gardens are opening - albeit not as we knew it. We’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime take care - keep safe
Best Wishes
Pat Beagley (Publicity)
National Garden Scheme - Hampshire
