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THE GREAT BRITISH GARDEN PARTY

The Great British Garden Party is an initiative designed to celebrate the key role played by our gardens and outdoor spaces in our health and wellbeing and to reduce the funding shortfall to enable key nursing and health charities to continue providing their vital services.   

Key facts about The Great British Garden Party:  

  • It’s completely free to take part  
  • 100% of all funds raised will go towards the National Garden Scheme’s ‘Help Support Our Nurses’ campaign   
  • Guidelines on how to host a safe, socially distanced Garden Party are included in the fundraising pack  
  • Also included in the fundraising pack are invitation and poster ideas, social media assets, plus menu and party inspiration from Mary Berry and other supporting celebrities  
  • Participants can host their Great British Garden Party outside the core campaign period of 14th – 20th September with fundraising materials available from 10th August  

Some facts and stats about UK gardens from previous National Garden Scheme research:  

  • Around 87 per cent of UK households (c.24 million) have a garden and estimates suggest that private gardens cover an area about the size of one-fifth of Wales. One-quarter of a typical city comprises private gardens, half its green space*  
  • Studies of school gardening suggest that children’s fruit and vegetable intake can be significantly increased along with increased knowledge, and preferences for fruit and vegetables. And teachers report positive wellbeing effects, personal achievement and pride in ‘growing’*  
  • Parents value gardens as play and discovery spaces for their children, with just 2 per cent in a survey saying they would ‘swap a bigger house for no garden’*    
  • Increasing numbers of younger adults also want to grow food. This is one reason for excess demand for allotments. Allotment gardening has been found to improve mood, self-esteem and physiological measures such as cortisol (associated with acute stress) compared with matched controls*  

*[Source: Gardens and Health – a King’s Fund report commissioned by the National Garden Scheme see: https://ngs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Kings-Fund-Report-1.pdf ]  

CEO George Plumptre is available for interview and comment 

For more information please contact:  

Vicky Flynn – Communications Manager – Vicky@ngs.org.uk – 07980 135909  

The National Garden Scheme has been raising millions of pounds for nursing and health charities by opening private gardens across England and Wales since 1927. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the charity to close its garden gates from April to June – its key fundraising months – for the first time in its history, leaving a shortfall in funding for its beneficiary charities. As the single largest funder of Marie Curie’s work, the longest standing partner of Macmillan Cancer Support and a key funder for Hospice UK, Carers Trust, Parkinson’s UK and The Queen’s Nursing Institute this shortfall is having a major impact on these key nursing charities.   

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