Hospice supporters open their ‘virtual’ gardens to people this summer

Gordon and Carol Gillett in their garden

With many private gardens unable to open to the public as usual this summer to raise funds for charity, people are finding creative ways to share their green spaces.

One family, unable to open their garden up as part of the National Garden Scheme (NGS), have created a special film instead.

Gordon Gillett and his wife Carol have been opening their garden to people in the community for 11 years as part of the NGS. In total they have raised more than £100,000 for cancer-related charities with most of the money donated to St Catherine’s Hospice in Crawley.

This year, due to coronavirus restrictions, Gordon and his family decided to bring the garden directly to people on film. But this film had to be different – it had to be humorous, and with beautiful music to complement the glorious setting.

Gordon said: “Many years ago, my lovely wife Carol almost singlehandedly created a special garden from a 1 ¾ acre wilderness. It was untouched for decades, and when we moved in it was a mix of brambles and fallen trees.

“Carol lovingly created the most beautiful garden. We enjoyed opening it each summer and sharing it with others in our community, but when Carol became ill with cancer, her strength failed. In January 2019, St Catherine’s helped Carol to die peacefully at home, as she wished.

“Although I have no gardening skills I’ve worked on all fours for many hours, trying to maintain our garden so it could be opened again this June. It would have opened during the most beautiful sunshine, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”

Along with his eldest grandson Tom and his girlfriend Charlotte, they’ve created a film featuring their dog Briony, who Carol helped into the world.

“I’m thrilled with it, and I hope our video will bring a smile to many faces during this challenging time.” Gordon said.

Meanwhile St Clare Hospice in Essex is launching its Virtual Open Gardens this weekend, with over 20 video tours of local green spaces. St Clare has hosted the Open Gardens event for 26 years, but the coronavirus outbreak has meant this year the horticultural festival will be virtual for the first time ever, with supporters able to enjoy video tours of local gardens from the comfort of their own homes.

One of these virtual gardens is that of Terry Mackay, a supporter of the hospice. His son, Dan Mackay, photographed the family garden and said: “Ordinarily Open Gardens isn’t something that we would get involved in this much, but due to the innovative thinking of the fundraising team and the virtual nature of this year’s event, it has made it much easier to participate and help out with fundraising in a new way for St Clare.

“Our garden has a strong link to the hospice. My mum, Barbara, was a patient at St Clare in December 2016 and after she passed away Dad decided that he would like to plant a memorial garden at home so that we would always have her close. We have a bronze leaf with mum’s name on it, which once hung on St Clare’s Memory Tree, but has now been fixed to the cherry tree which was planted in 1977, the year my parents were married, and still has pride of place in the middle of the garden.”