At a ceremony attended by patients with spinal injuries, their families, Horatio’s Garden founders Dr. Olivia and David Chapple, NHS staff, and designers Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal unveiled a plaque to officially open the new garden.
Horatio’s Garden Sheffield & East started as a show garden, winning Best in Show and gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 and was the first garden at Chelsea designed for people with mobility needs. Part of a group of eight extraordinary gardens located at NHS spinal injury rehabilitation centres, this garden was inspired by the history, geography and industry of Yorkshire including a water feature made from historic Sheffield cutlery casts and stone cairns built by fifth-generation master stone wallers Lydia and Bert Noble.
Known for his role in the Netflix series Sex Education, Appeal Ambassador George Robinson, who spent seven and a half months in rehabilitation at the spinal injury centre following a high-level spinal injury playing rugby in South Africa 2015, said: “I know what a transformative difference this garden would have made to me here. Somewhere for patients to have some private moments away from the ward, to spend normal times with family, a laugh with friends and to be outside in nature. This place will improve so many people’s lives.”
Dr Olivia Chapple OBE EMH, founder of Horatio’s Garden said: “We were honoured to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to open Horatio’s Garden Sheffield & East. With Her Royal Highness’s long association with spinal cord injuries and having opened the Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Centre in 1995, Her Royal Highness really understands how vital the garden will be to people as they adjust and find a way to navigate the future.”
Annette Laban, Chair of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation added: “We are delighted to have opened Horatio’s Garden at the Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Unit. There is no doubt that it will play an important part in the rehabilitation of so many of our patients and provide a lovely space for them to enjoy with their family and friends. It was a pleasure to welcome back HRH The Princess Royal to see the garden and to have the opportunity to hear first hand what it means to our patients and staff. We are very grateful to the Horatio’s Garden team and their supporters for bringing the garden to life.”
The garden was funded through donations, the National Garden Scheme, Project Giving Back, Sanita Merali Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Sheffield Hospitals Charity, The Geoff and Fiona Squire Foundation, The Band Trust, The Clothworkers’ Foundation and the Pears Foundation.
