A GOLD medal-winning garden with its roots in East Lothian has found a permanent home.
Teapot Trust’s ‘Elsewhere Garden’ is being replanted at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.
The creative horticultural display won gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show earlier this year.
Musselburgh-based charity Teapot Trust worked with Scottish-Swiss design studio Semple Begg, which has links to Gullane, to create a fantasy garden that represents a child’s imagination as it blossoms in response to the freedom provided by art therapy.
The garden mirrors the escape children discover through art to find coping strategies to deal with life.
READ MORE: Take a look at this Musselburgh charity's award-winning garden
Sarah Randell, chief executive of Teapot Trust, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to provide a garden that will be a permanent, visible home for art therapy, away from the clinical environment, at Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow.
“It’s also an inclusive safe space for everyone.
“We’re hugely grateful to our talented garden designers, Semple Begg, who have adapted the garden for Glasgow, incorporating joyful year-round colour.
“We hope young patients will benefit from it for years to come.”
Teapot Trust is a charity that provides mental health support through art therapy to children, young people and their families living with chronic (painful and long-term) conditions.
The garden has been gifted to the Royal Hospital for Children to create a space away from the clinical environment and to help overcome barriers to accessing healthcare.
This is our Chair of Trustees, Ruth, with her daughter Neve in our gold-medal winning Chelsea Flower Show Garden. Read how Ruth became involved with the charity after her daughter received Teapot Trust art therapy.https://t.co/fEgcoW4KPr#TrusteesWeek #Trustees #GiveBack pic.twitter.com/qo4enb3nXG
— Teapot Trust (@TeapotTrust) November 8, 2023
It will be used for outdoor art therapy, and all patients and visitors will be welcome.
The process of replanting the garden in the hospital grounds is now under way.
Professor Tom Steele, director of estates and facilities for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “The value of greenspace for mental and physical health, and as an aid to recovery, is well known, and the Elsewhere Garden will be an important space for our young patients and their families to get away from the pressures of their treatment and relax.
“We would like to thank Teapot Trust and Semple Begg for bringing this garden to the Royal Hospital for Children, and we look forward to its completion.”
READ MORE: Musselburgh charity’s delight at Chelsea Flower Show garden nod
One in four children and young people in the UK lives with the pain and stigma of chronic health conditions that cause anxiety and depression.
Almost a third of those aged under 21 who take their own lives have a long-term chronic illness.
The charity’s art therapy gives children and young people a release from the burdens of chronic illness, allowing them to take some control and process their feelings about their diagnosis, treatment regime, and the impact of their condition.
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