MORE than 30 gardens across Harlow, Epping Upland and Thornwood opened their gates to the public in aid of St Clare Hospice during the charity’s 24th annual ‘Open Gardens’ festival.

New for 2018, the perennially popular horticultural event took place across the summer season – starting on Saturday 19th May and continuing until Sunday 1st July – rather than over a single weekend. Over the course of the two months, hundreds of people came from far and wide to explore some of the best kept green spaces in the hospice’s catchment area.

Once all donations have been collected, Open Gardens 2018 is expected to have raised approximately £8,500 for St Clare Hospice – a 70% increase in vital funding raised after the event changed its format for the first time in 23 years.

Over the 24 years in which St Clare’s Open Gardens has been running, the community event has raised an estimated £58,500 to fund the specialist palliative care that the Hospice provides to people and their families across West Essex and the borders of East Herts.

St Clare Patron and BBC One Show gardener, Christine Walkden, once again supported the fundraising campaign and attended one of the Open Gardens events held at Goosebury Hall in Epping Upland on Sunday 27th May 2018. The garden sits in the grounds of the Grade II listed 17th century Goosebury Hall, and belongs to former St Clare Hospice Chairman and Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, Michael Chapman.

Commenting on the success of Open Gardens 2018, St Clare Hospice’s Community Fundraising Lead, Dani De’ath said: “We are absolutely overjoyed that Open Gardens 2018 has raised so much for St Clare Hospice this year! After making some big changes to the format of the event, we are delighted that it has all paid off and we have raised more in vital funding than ever before. We’d like to say thank you to everyone who opened their gates in aid of St Clare, and to all those who attended. We are deeply proud of our strong relationships with our supporters and the public, and it’s with thanks to them that Open Gardens 2018 was such a success!”

To celebrate the success of Open Gardens 2018, St Clare Hospice premiered a short video of the event which is available to view at www.youtube.com/stclarehospice or www.facebook.com/stclarehospice

For more information about Open Gardens, please contact St Clare Hospice’s Community Fundraising Lead, Dani De’ath, on 01279 773738 or email [email protected]