Sarasin & Partners and Place2Be are promoting children’s mental health at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022
RHS Ambassador and horticulturist Jamie Butterworth is designing his first RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden this spring (24-28 May), to promote the importance of children’s mental health.
The beautifully-planted garden will offer a safe space where children can take time and talk. The Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden is being developed in partnership with leading children’s mental health charity Place2Be and sustainable investment manager Sarasin & Partners which adopts a ‘securing tomorrow’ approach to investing.
Meet Jamie and the children at Viking Primary School who helped design the garden:
Situated on Royal Hospital Way, the Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden is a space that facilitates and stimulates conversation. It aims to be safe and peaceful, where children can feel calm and are able to talk, while also taking in the beauty of plants and being outside. This connection with plants and the natural world is something that has proven increasingly important for mental health and wellbeing over the past two years.
Why children's mental health?
Clinical research shows 50% of people with a lifetime mental health issue first developed symptoms before the age of 14. The Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden will use this space – and the platform of the world-renowned Chelsea Flower Show – to generate discussion and a better understanding of the importance of supporting and nurturing mental health from an early age.
Butterworth’s design has been developed with input from staff and pupils at Viking Primary School in Northolt, West London, which has been working in partnership with Place2Be for 12 years. Place2Be’s expert teams work in school communities across the UK, offering one-to-one and group support to help pupils to cope with life’s challenges.
Sarasin & Partners has been supporting the work of Place2Be for the past two years. Its philosophy of ‘securing tomorrow’ – which is a long-term thematic approach to investing prioritising environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors – resonates with the charity’s goal to secure children’s futures. After the Chelsea Flower Show, with support from Sarasin & Partners, the garden will be relocated within the Viking Primary School grounds.
The garden’s planting scheme will be lush and green, and will promote a feeling of safety and wellbeing, emphasising the vital connection that children need to have with plants, growing and nurturing the outside world. It will feature pops of blue and yellow, chosen by pupils at Viking Primary School, to add a splash of colour. The planting will be beautiful but durable, allowing the space to be used by children and carers, but also tough enough to deal with our ever changing climate. Trees, shrubs, perennials and ground cover plants will ensure that rainfall is slowed and flooding reduced; plants have been chosen to be able to stand some winter wet or summer drought as our climate alters; and all will grow well and thrive in an urban environment It will also incorporate structural elements created by local artisan craftspeople in Berkshire, using sustainable practices.
From the designer, charity and sponsor
Guy Matthews, CEO of Sarasin & Partners, said: “I am delighted Sarasin & Partners has taken the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful initiative. By supporting Jamie Butterworth and Place2Be in the creation of the Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden, we hope to highlight the importance of sustainability and securing a future for the planet and the next generation, especially as the children of Viking Primary School will be able to enjoy the garden for years to come. These aims are at the heart of what we do, combined with our heritage in charity investment and helping charities to achieve their long-term goals.”
Jamie Butterworth, Managing Director of Form Plants and designer for the garden, said: “It’s so important to encourage children to engage with nature. Through my work in schools as an RHS Ambassador I’ve seen first-hand the positive difference to children’s lives. I hope the garden will inspire everyone to think about the importance of outdoor space, a sanctuary where we look after and nurture our mental wellbeing.
“That’s why I’m so delighted to create a garden which promotes children’s mental health, that will have a life beyond Chelsea, bringing a positive impact to the lives of primary school children who have no, or limited, outdoor space at home.”
Catherine Roche, CEO of Place2Be, added: “One in six children now has a diagnosable mental health issue, and many more are struggling with the challenges and uncertainties of life today. The Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show offers a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of the need to invest in children’s mental health. We are thrilled to be working with Sarasin & Partners and with the very talented Jamie Butterworth, who share our passion for the need to increase understanding of the vital importance of supporting wellbeing from an early age.”
About Jamie Butterworth
Passionate plantsman and horticulturist, Jamie studied horticulture at both Askham Bryan College and then RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, graduating with a distinction. In 2016, Jamie became one of 8 RHS Ambassadors, joining Alan Titchmarsh, Mary Berry and Nick Knowles to champion the work of the RHS with a particular focus on getting children into gardening and showing the physical and mental health benefits gardening can offer.
Jamie has previously designed gardens for Wedgwood at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2019 where he became the most celebrated designer at an RHS show winning all four top awards (Best in Show, People’s Choice, best construction and gold medal) for the first time in RHS history; and more recently ‘A Garden for a Green Future’ at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2021 in conjunction with The Daily Telegraph. He has been Managing Director of Form Plants since 2020.
About Form Plants
Jamie’s passion for plants, plant health and the environment led to him opening Form Plants, Berkshire in early 2020, with a vision to supply the landscaping industry with quality trees and plants to add form and structure into gardens of all sizes, at the very best value and with exceptional customer service. With a team of expert horticulturists, Form Plants is based in Dorney, just outside of Windsor in Berkshire, with an inspirational tree showroom, designed to make choosing from the comprehensive Form range as convenient as possible. Form Plants will be hoping to continue from their success at the September RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021, where they supplied eight award-winning show gardens in addition to creating their own display inside the Grand Pavilion with a Silver-Gilt award. For RHS Chelsea 2022, Form Plants will be growing and supplying 15,000 plants and over 40 trees between five show gardens, all managed on-site at Dorney.
Contact: [email protected]
About Place2Be
Place2Be is a children's mental health charity providing school-based support and in-depth training programmes to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff.
The charity currently provides an embedded mental health service in over 400 UK primary and secondary schools, supporting a school community of around 225,000 children and young people.
Last year, over 54,000 teachers and other professionals accessed the Place2Be Mental Health Champions – Foundation programme, and the charity’s resources to support schools and families were downloaded or viewed over 124,000 times.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge became Patron of Place2Be in 2013, reflecting her personal interest in and commitment to improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children.
www.place2be.org.uk / Twitter @Place2Be / Facebook @place2becharity
About Sarasin & Partners
Sarasin & Partners are an experienced charity investment manager with a commitment to responsible stewardship. Our global, thematic approach to investment is underpinned by sustainability, because we believe that investment has the power to grow and protect wealth in a way that benefits society.
Over the past 20 years, Sarasin has become one of the leading charity investment managers in the UK, managing portfolios for a wide range of educational, medical, religious and grant-making charities. Approximately 450 charities trust us to manage their money in order to reach their charitable goals. Find out more at sarasinandpartners.com
Contact: [email protected]