Blue Head For The Hospice

A garden that brought the wow factor to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show is to open at The Hospice of St Francis in September.

The Silver-Gilt winning Myeloma UK Garden will open at the Hospice on Sunday 16 September. Its designers, John Everiss and Francesca Murrell, will give talks about its creation and Dame Carolyn McCall DBE, OBE and Rosemarie Finley, CEO of Myeloma UK, will cut the ribbon.

Great Gaddesden resident Peter King, 76, raised over £11,000 to bring the garden to the Hospice.

‘My wife Gill loved flowers so we always went to Chelsea,’ he said. ‘I was very keen that the garden was reused for more people to enjoy.

‘The hospice is such a wonderful place where Gill spent her final six days, and I hope that the garden will bring hope and inspiration to hospice users.’

The centrepiece is a translucent sculpture built from almost 200 layers of Arctic blue acrylic, modelled on Peter and Gill’s daughter, Gemma.

At 12ft and seven tonnes, the sculpture appears to be blowing seeds onto fertile soil to represent new medical treatments, and as a sign of hope and growth.

Boulders represent plasma cells, and overlapping steel panels are physical representations of barriers in care and treatment.

A team from construction engineers Stage One scanned Gemma’s head, hands and shoulders to generate a 3D digital image to achieve the sculptural shape.

Designer John Everiss, said: ‘It’s fantastic that the garden will live on at The Hospice of St Francis. It represents a positive message of hope.’

Garden lovers will be welcomed to the hospice between 1pm and 5pm for canapes, guest speakers, live music, butterfly and bee displays and tours. Tickets are £20 in shops or at stfrancis.org.uk/chelseagarden.