After a week when the RHS Chelsea Flower Show put gardening high on the media agenda, the Greenfingers Charity team say THANK YOU EVERYONE for well and truly putting the work of our industry charity, which creates magical gardens for children in hospices, on the map.
Greenfingers Charity Chairman, John Ashley started by thanking the sponsor of the garden, without who's support the garden would never have happened: "Thank you also to the RHS who agreed to allocate such a great spot for our garden, to Kate Gould who with her team created a wonderful garden which did give the public a view of the sort of gardens Greenfingers has built over the past 20 years... 56 in fact! The Queen visited the garden on Monday and met Kate, the sponsor and myself and was very pleased to compliment us on a wonderful garden and a worthwhile charity.
"All the suppliers who donated goods to help reduce the cost... thank you all, you were all very generous. The media who were so excited and spent many hours filming and interviewing celebs! And the weather ...every day different but a fab week of dry days."
Linda Petrons, Director of Fundraising & Communications, added: "Being at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has been a truly unforgettable week for us all and I certainly feel extremely proud that our time at Chelsea has been such a fantastic success for the charity. From the early planning stages to show week, the Greenfingers team and its many volunteers together worked hard to ensure The Greenfingers Charity Garden became a reality and achieved its aim to build the profile of the charity.
"I would like to say a huge thank all those who helped in so many different ways; from the Chelsea Committee, those who helped with the build and to over 50 volunteers who gave their time during show week to speak to the gardening public, hand out 10,000 bags (kindly donated by Woodlodge) and 35,000 leaflets.
"And of course to those friends who helped spread the word across their vast networks and to all those who visited us at the show.
"I would also like to say a personal thank you to all those who were at the end of the phone to offer support and those experienced RHS Chelsea Flower Show project managers who gave advice and guidance. The success of The Greenfingers Charity Garden has only been possible thanks to the help of so many fantastic friends of Greenfingers – thank you!"
Trustee Boyd Douglas-Davies most wanted to thank the visitors to the garden and the voters in the BBC/RHS Peoples Choice Award: "Just like every Greenfingers Garden that has been created up and down the country, the Chelsea Garden has captured the hearts and minds of so many this week.
"We emailed everyone in our loyalty scheme and I've been receiving emails back from complete strangers telling me that they voted for the garden – thank you to them and everyone that took time to vote.
"A further huge thanks must go to the thousands of people that made a bee line to the garden having seen it on the BBC or read about it in the numerous articles that have been published nationally in the last few weeks."
And what's next for Greenfingers? Well it's business as usual, as John noted: "We can now get back to the day job, opening three new gardens in Sunderland,The Wirral and North London... next month ...the demand never stops!"
Find out more about the gardens we are opening soon here.
