Children’s cancer charity garden at RHS Hampton

Children with Cancer UK, the nation’s leading charity dedicated to research into childhood cancer, is collaborating with Mr. Men Little Miss to host a show garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) largest flower show at RHS Hampton Court Palace (2nd to 8th July 2018).

The Children with Cancer UK Mr. Happy Mr. Worry Hill‘ garden is designed by Emma Reed of Reed Studio and celebrates 30 years of the charity’s work in funding scientific research into childhood cancer. The garden marks Emma’s debut at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.

The striking design represents the journey families and children go through emotionally from diagnosis to treatment and will be set within Misterland, the home of the Mr. Men characters. The key theme is a split hill with iconic features from Mr. Men illustrations with one side representing happy and the other worry. Bright shades of yellow and orange symbolise the feelings and emotions of happiness with shades of blue and purple symbolising the feelings of worry. On one side a waterfall represents tears and on the other side a light wall represents hope.

Children with Cancer UK is the only charity Diana, Princess of Wales ever inaugurated, having planted a tree in January 1988 in memory of Jean and Paul O’Gorman, who sadly fell victim to cancer within nine months of each other. A garden at Hampton Court was considered a fitting way to mark this occasion in the special 30th anniversary year of Children with Cancer UK.

Thirty different species of plants will feature in the garden and flowering turf. Sandstone is the key material, depicting the dry-stone walls used in the Mr. Men books as well as the vernacular of the West Yorkshire landscape where Mr. Men author Roger Hargreaves was born.

Cliff O’Gorman, chief executive of Children with Cancer UK points out that the garden is a fitting way to celebrate their 30th anniversary: “Children with Cancer UK raise and invest money for vital specialist research to help save the lives of children with cancer and keep their family together.

The garden represents the immense progress made in childhood cancer treatment over the past thirty years since the charity was established, but also how much more work there is to do.

We hope that the garden raises awareness of the value of scientific research into childhood cancers. It is essential we fight the injustice of cancer in children by investing in innovative new treatments like precision medicine that could improve survival rates in even the hardest-to-treat cancers, and reduce the burden of toxicity for young cancer patients,” he said.

The licensing director of Mr Men Little Miss, Alastair McHarrie said: “We are delighted to be working on this fantastic project and continuing our longstanding relationship with Children with Cancer UK. We are very proud if in some small way Mr. Men Little Miss can help raise awareness for this vital cause.

The garden is in the Show Garden category. We wish everyone associated with the garden the best of luck for a successful show.

Garden graphic is ©Emma Reed.