All eyes on Rochdale at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show

Led by local homelessness charity, Petrus, the Rochdale community united to deliver a feature garden for the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show.

Together with their volunteers and service users, Petrus has been creating gardens for the show since 2019. Their gardens have secured an impressive collection of medals and accolades including winning three consecutive People’s Choice Awards.

The RHS Tatton Park Flower Show celebrated its 25th year in July, with crowds travelling to the park to find inspiration and comradery from the gardening community.
 

Read more: Double award win for Rochdale homelessness charity at RHS Tatton ParkPublished: 29 July 2022

Returning to the show for their 5th year, Petrus were invited by the RHS to produce the show’s only feature garden, the Ginnel Garden. This would be their biggest garden yet, so Petrus turned to the Rochdale community for support to bring their vision for the ‘Kaleidoscope Ginnel,’ to life.

Pupils from Falinge Park High School created colourful glass floral mosaics that were set into wooden panels by local carpenter Louis Entwistle.

 

 

Volunteers from youth work charity Aspire 2 Inspire put together their thoughts on friendships and community, which were etched onto metal structures within the garden. They also joined the Petrus team on site, assisting with the build, as did volunteers from Willmott Dixon who also rallied their supply chain to provide a donation of PPE.

Local business, J Parker’s, played an integral role in Petrus’ journey to the show. They raised almost £5,000 through a sponsored 13.5 mile walk, as well as donating flowers, fruit trees, planters and more to help the vision for the Ginnel to take shape.

Rachael Bennion, lead garden designer and Petrus service lead said: “It was a real privilege to be asked to produce the Ginnel Garden for the RHS. For them to recognise the quality of our previous gardens and trust us with such an important role in the show was really validating for all our volunteers and service users.

We’ve always believed the show was a great opportunity for us to boost confidence and feelings of belonging for our community, and this was a perfect example of that.”

 

 

The garden was also supported by M&Y Maintenance and Construction, Ecogee, Rochdale Rotary Club and Rochdale Borough Council. Long term Petrus supporters, the Cosalea Café in Bury donated delicious lunches for the team working on site every day for three weeks and from further afield, Birkenhead Car and Van Hire provided a free minibus for the charity to use for the duration.

The Kaleidoscope Ginnel Garden is a shining example of the diverse friendships formed through community gardening. As well as being a celebration of the power of these friendships, it also challenged visitors see things from a different perspective by reflecting what people who have experienced homelessness, isolation, mental health issues and other complex social needs can achieve when they are empowered, trusted and believed in.

The legacy of the Kaleidoscope Ginnel will live on in Rochdale now that the show has come to an end, with four pocket gardens created for the community to enjoy.

The charity would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the garden and helped showcase the Rochdale Community at the show.

Rachael continues: “So many people, businesses and community organisations showed up to help us and we’re grateful to each and every one. We’ve so enjoyed creating gardens at Tatton Park for the last five years and it felt incredible to create something so special with our community.”