“On this sad day, Maggie’s and Linklaters would like to express their sympathies to all affected by the events in Manchester last night.”
The Linklaters Garden for Maggie’s, designed by award-winning garden designer Darren Hawkes, has been awarded a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Designed for cancer charity Maggie’s, whose centres have revolutionised the concept of therapeutic gardens, the garden is the first hidden garden ever to be built at the show. Enclosed within a three-metre high hornbeam hedge, it is designed as a private and reflective space for people living with cancer, away from the clinical environments of hospitals.
The garden is one of only four show gardens to win a Gold Medal at the 2017 show, giving Darren Hawkes his second Chelsea Gold Medal for what is his third Show Garden.
Darren said: “I’m so proud to be involved with the pioneering work of Maggie’s and to have been given the opportunity to continue the extraordinary legacy of Maggie Keswick Jencks by creating an RHS Chelsea Show Garden in her name. To be awarded a Gold Medal is a tremendous thrill and one that I’m delighted to be able to share with everyone involved in bringing my vision to life. Building the first hidden garden at RHS Chelsea was immensely challenging and it’s down to the team of highly skilled craftsmen who helped create it, that I’m celebrating this award today.”
The garden, sponsored by global law firm Linklaters, is inspired by the progressive vision of the late Maggie Keswick Jencks, whose personal experience of cancer helped create the blueprint for Maggie’s Centres and their gardens. Beyond the show, plants and other elements of the Chelsea garden will be used to create a garden for the new Maggie’s Centre currently under construction at London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The new garden, which has also been designed by Darren Hawkes, will have the same sense of enclosure and stillness as the Chelsea garden and provide a lasting legacy for the charity when it opens early in 2018.
It is the first time both Linklaters and Maggie’s have been involved in an RHS Chelsea Show Garden.
Maggie’s chief executive, Laura Lee said: “I am absolutely thrilled that Darren’s vision and hard work has been recognised with this prestigious award. Each garden at Maggie’s has been carefully created to be a welcoming extension of our Centres, offering uplifting views, a connection to the changing seasons and a place to sit and relax away from the hospital environment. Right from the start Darren has absolutely understood everything we try to achieve within our Centres and gardens and has cleverly captured this within his design. I’m really excited to continue working with Darren as we take elements of this garden to our new Centre opening at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where I know it will have a huge impact on the people living with cancer who will visit the garden when our Centre opens.”
Nicola Rabson, partner at Linklaters, said: “We feel privileged to have been involved in this award-winning garden for Maggie’s and we are delighted by the recognition that the garden has received. It has been a pleasure to be part of the team and see the determination and hard work that has gone into completing this wonderful and worthwhile project. It has been designed as a restorative and tranquil space away from less peaceful environments and is a perfect reflection of the haven that Maggie’s Centres provide.”
This is the second Gold medal Bowles & Wyer Contracts has won at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, having previously won Gold for the Brewin Dolphin garden in 2015 that was also designed by Darren Hawkes and sited on the Rock Bank. The contractor has also won three Silver Gilts and one Silver medal at the show.
Dan Riddleston, director at Bowles & Wyer Contracts said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have won our second RHS Chelsea gold medal for a project that has been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. Creating a garden of this sort, which has never been done at the show before, demanded the highest levels of craftsmanship from everyone involved. Darren’s vision to create a secret garden where people with cancer can draw strength from their surroundings was inspiration enough to get the job done. The finished garden is testament to the skill and dedication of everyone involved.”
Darren Hawkes said: “The entire build, from negotiating the challenging position of the garden, to the installation of the hedging and the task of maneuvering the concrete components into the space, was incredibly complex from start to finish. Knowing I had Dan and the team at Bowles & Wyer Contracts managing it gave me the peace of mind that the garden would be executed exactly as I envisaged. The precision and skill with which they bought every element together was incredible. I’m delighted to be able to celebrate winning Gold with them today.”
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