The Minstead Flower Show committee has donated £500 towards Minstead’s Furzey Gardens Chelsea Flower Show 2012 fund.

Next May the Furzey Gardens team of horticulturalists, volunteers and adults with learning disabilities take a show garden to Chelsea, guided by popular garden designer and radio and TV presenter Chris Beardshaw.

Tim Holt, treasurer for the Minstead Flower Show committee, presented Furzey Gardens’ trustee Graham Waters with a cheque and commented that the committee “think that involving young people in the garden is wonderful, and the fact that there is a well established link with the village is really tremendous. We are very happy to support this project”.

Furzey Gardens is a “not for profit” charity which combines the running of the gardens, which welcome in excess of 25,000 visitors every year, with the provision of therapeutic and work experience opportunities for young people with learning disabilities. It does this important work in tandem with its sister charity the Minstead Training Project. In addition to celebrating the abilities of those with learning disabilities it is hoped that the Chelsea project will draw attention to the valuable work done by organisations working for people with learning disabilities and raise morale at this difficult time.

The Chelsea project is being accomplished on a shoestring and to keep costs low the show garden is being built with the help of volunteers who are generous in giving their time and skills. Even so, the Furzey Trust has to raise £60,000 to cover the basic costs of student care, plants, preparation, transportation and construction at Chelsea. Fundraising is going well, with £32,000 either donated or pledged so far, although there is a long way to go and any donation, however small, would be very gratefully received.

Chris Beardshaw, who was last at Chelsea with a large show garden in 2007, has created a sloping woodland design which incorporates a large collection of acid loving species including rhododendrons, azaleas, acers and primulas. The naturalistic ericaceous garden is set to buck recent trends in show garden planting and the RHS committee is so looking forward to have such a different show garden, both in design and ethos, that we have been allocated a prime spot in the Chelsea show ground.

If you are interested in helping the bid for Chelsea Honours and would like to find out more: contact Anne Turner, 07789 254189, anne.turner@furzey-gardens.org or visit www.furzey-gardens.org or www.minsteadtrainingproject.org for more information.