Another Successful Day Raising Money for Charity!

Posted:25 July 2016

Sunday 17 July; another great open day in the Garden House, and another great result for our chosen charity. This year we managed to raise £5,500 for JDRF, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which is striving to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes and focuses on children and young people who suffer with this chronic health condition.

The JDRF team helping and organising

Just before the Auction, one of the JDRF team told us all a little about the charity and the importance of raising both awareness and funds. A breakthrough in research could mean an end to constant, daily and often painful medication and dangerous highs and lows of blood glucose levels, not to mention the nasty long term effects of living with this disease. JDRF fund research projects all over the world, organising events to bring people together to support, share and learn about their condition.

Fantastic live music, homemade dishes and cakes

This greater understanding of the condition undoubtedly spurred everyone on to dig deep when it came to bidding for the many auction lots – which included everything from a week in a house in France, to a session with a chiropractor, to two beautiful watercolour paintings donated by local artists, Kate Osborne and Mary Middleton.

Eagerly anticipating the auction lots

We also had wonderful plants stalls, delicious homemade foods and refreshments, and many gift stalls selling among other things books, ceramics, soaps, vintage embroidered cloths, jams – encouraging visitors to linger, relax and enjoy the sunshine in this unique Brighton garden.

Enjoying the garden

After all the open garden visitors had departed, the day ended with a delightful ‘pot luck’ dinner in the garden, celebrating the end of the gardening year with Bridges Friday Gardening Group who spend every Friday morning tending this special place. If you are interested in learning new skills in horticulture by joining a warm and supporting group of like-minded gardeners, enrolment has started for September 2016.

Photos taken by GH friend Cathy Maxwell.

Bridges Friday Gardeners celebrating the end of their garden year

Meeting every Friday morning in term time between 9:30 and 13:00 we share knowledge and tips for a variety of horticultural tasks including vegetable growing, propagation, pruning, landscaping, making structures, looking after a glass house, composting, lawn care and creating borders and other ornamental features in the garden. The next part of the morning is spent in the garden, working in small groups, learning new skills and having lots of fun in the process! It is the aim of the group to open the garden for the National Gardens Scheme in the spring and then work towards opening again at the end of the course in July for a charity chosen by the group.

If you are interested, please email Bridge at contact@gardenhousebrighton.co.uk with your contact details and then I will call you to talk about the course in more detail. The cost of the course is £400 per year and includes, coffee and refreshments each week plus a taught session and lots of plants to take home.