Don’t miss your last chance to see some of the beautiful gardens included in this year’s Phyllis Tuckwell Open Gardens event. Gardens in Farnham and Fleet will be swinging open their gates in July and August to support hospice care in our community, and for a small fee you are invited to wander around them, soaking up the atmosphere and maybe taking away a few ideas to try out on your own green spaces at home.
The gardens are of different sizes and designs, and will include agapanthus, hydrangeas, lime glow berberis, acers, aronia, deutzia and a blue sausage shrub. The residents will be selling refreshments and will also have plants for sale. Some will be running a raffle too, with all the proceeds going to Phyllis Tuckwell.
All of the money raised by the Open Gardens event will go directly towards helping fund the supportive and end of life care that Phyllis Tuckwell provides for local patients and families who are living with an advanced or terminal illness, such as cancer. Every day it supports over 250 patients, relatives and carers – in their own homes, in the community, at the Hospice in Farnham and at the Beacon Centre in Guildford – but as the NHS/Government usually only covers about 20% of its costs, it has to raise over £25,000 a day to do this.
Phyllis Tuckwell’s last Open Gardens event in 2019 raised almost £10,000, enough to pay for one of its Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) for two months. Its CNSs visit patients and families in their own homes. They assess patients’ needs, provide physical and psychological care, assist with advance care planning, offer advice on managing complex symptoms, provide access to information and therapies tailored to each individual’s needs and those of their family or carer, and are always on the end of the phone if a patient or relative needs advice or reassurance.
“Our Open Gardens event has been a wonderful success so far this spring and summer, and there are still a few gardens who will be welcoming visitors this month and next, so if you are able to pop along you’re in for a real treat!” said Charli Quay-Barnham, Community Fundraising Manager at Phyllis Tuckwell. “All of the gardens are listed in our Open Gardens brochure, which can be downloaded from our website, or you can pick up a copy in our Phyllis Tuckwell shops.”
To download an Open Gardens brochure, click here. For more information, please contact Phyllis Tuckwell’s Fundraising team on 01252 729446 or email [email protected].