Veteran Ray Howie has won a bronze medal for his show garden “Serenity- a Flower Garden for Gardening Leave” at Gardening Scotland which ran from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd June 2012 at The Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh. Ray designed and built the garden with help from a team of veterans with most of the materials being kindly donated by Dobbies Garden Centre in Dalkeith. The courtyard garden contained a life-size sculpture of a wrought-iron man cutting grass with a recycled lawnmower also featured mirrors, mosaics and artificial turf.
Ray a former Black Watch soldier has been attending Gardening Leave for several years and has benefited greatly from taking part in Horticultural Therapy. He wanted to show his appreciation by designing a show garden and raising money for Gardening Leave in the process. The success of the show garden was truly amazing and not only was Ray awarded a bronze medal, he raised a fantastic amount of money for the charity and more importantly, raised awareness for Gardening Leave. PR from this event has helped increase the number of people who now know about Gardening Leave through many different social channels.
Check out Beechgrove Garden programme on Friday 1st of June where you can see Presenter Jim McColl MBE meet Ray Howie. You can see this by going bbc I Player http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jkd0k/Beechgrove_Garden_2012_Episode_10/ (4mins 8 Secs in)
Check out some photos of the Show Garden
Massive thanks to Ray and his team, Dawn Gibson “Dalkeith Store Community Champion” from Dobbies and everyone else who contributed in any way to the success of this event.
Dobbies Garden World - dobbies.com
Maryshade Garden Centre - mayshade.co.uk
R & B Nurserys - rbnursery.co.uk
Turffit Limited - turffit.co.uk
Fence ‘n’ Deck Ltd - fence-n-deck.com
Daniel Campbell
Deli fresco
Clan McLeod Coaches
Andrew Sears Painting and Decorating
W. Beverage
For more information on:
- Gardening Scotland – gardeningscotland.com
- Beechgrove Garden - thebeechgrovegarden.com
