Volunteer gardeners at Derby College Group’s Broomfield Hall have been awarded a silver medal at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chatsworth Flower show which is open to the public from Wednesday June 5 to Sunday June 9.
As well as volunteering their time to support Head Gardener Samantha Harvey with the 25 acres of gardens at the Broomfield Hall Land-based and Leisure college in Morley, the volunteers have also planned and created a garden for the show.
This is the second silver medal for the 40-strong Broomfield Hall volunteers having been recognised in the Long Border category last year.
This year the volunteers have created a much larger show garden entitled ‘Find Yourself..Lost in the Moment..”.
The garden celebrates volunteering in gardens and the physical and mental health benefits that it brings.
The garden captures the senses with a series of spiral sculptures emerging from soft planting. Random-height sleepers and characterful doors represent the diverse backgrounds and future possibilities that volunteering in gardens brings.
Samantha Harvey explained: “I am absolutely delighted with the silver medal for our first show garden. It is such a prestigious award and will hopefully lead inspire to creating a bigger garden at RHS Chatsworth in the future.
“This would not have happened without the hard work of the volunteers and the support from Derby College Group. Everyone has been amazing.”
One of the volunteers and show garden project manager Carl Johnson added: “It is amazing that we are now two-time silver medal winners. This is the best project that we have been involved with and is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Sponsors for the garden are Derby College Group, sculptor Robert Watts, Ilkeston-based Stanton Recycling, Harlow Bros Ltd in Derby, Creation Landscapes Ltd – Staffordshire and Ocean Designs in Loughborough.
For more information on volunteering opportunities at Broomfield Hall, please email samantha.harvey@derby-college.ac.uk and for details of the Broomfield Hall garden opening times, events as well as full and part time study programmes at Broomfield Hall, visit www.derby-college.ac.uk or telephone 0800 028 0289.
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Picture shows: Samantha Harvey and Carl Johnson in front of the medal winning show garden.
