Monthly Talk – Beyond the Garden Gate
By Mary Hayter
We were pleased to welcome Mary Hayter who came to talk to us about the History and Development of the National Garden Scheme. The talk was highly informative supported by an excellent audio-visual presentation.
Mary traced the history of the NGS back to its inception in 1959 when William Rathbone, a wealthy merchant and philanthropist realised that good home nursing was not available to the vast majority of people and connected with Florence Nightingale to try and develop what would be the beginning of ‘District Nursing’ This led to the development of The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) in 1887. It was in 1927 that QNI member Elise Wagg came up with the idea of raising money through the nation’s obsession with gardening – and so the National Garden Scheme was founded. In its first year alone 609 gardens opened to the public for a shilling entry fee and a total of £8191 was raised. The scheme was boosted by the support of George V who opened his gardens at Sandringham. Later on this was boosted by support from Winston Churchill opening his gardens at Chartwell and Vita Sackville-West who likewise opened her beautiful gardens at Sissinghurst.
The Yellow Guide as it is now popularly known, was started in 1932. All the proceeds from the Scheme were donated to home nursing services and even after the introduction of the NHS in 1948 the money still went to support this important area of medical support and after 1980 the scheme became independent of the QNI and was able to fund a range of nursing and health charities. These included Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Hospice UK, Carers Trust and most recently Parkinson’s UK. The current patron of the scheme is HRH Prince of Wales and the President is Mary Berry.
Since it’s beginnings in 1927 the NGS has donated over £63 million to Nursing and Health Charities and is this sectors more significant charity funder. All this is made possible by the participation of people opening their gardens to the public and the amazing support of volunteers to help provide tea and cakes.
Mary went on the illustrate the wide range of gardens open to the public throughout the year and more recently they have diversified into opening allotments as well. In more recent years and brought into even sharper focus during the last two years of Covid, the emphasis has been on the championing of mental health related projects. Outdoor spaces and gardening in particular can be hugely beneficial.
Mary and her husband Iain, open their own garden to the public at 21 Chestnut Road Brockenhurst and she made some excellent suggestions for other Hampshire gardens to visit such as Shaldon Park, Alton, Heckfield Place and the Allotments in Hook Cross which are new this year. She stressed that whilst some gardens advertise opening on specific dates, they are often pleased to accommodate pre-booked groups. Many of the properties are now dog friendly too.
It was an excellent talk and Mary certainly engaged the audience. Her husband Iain also bought along some lovely bug boxes that he makes from recycled materials – all the proceeds of which also go the NGS.