At last.....

Well it took 4 years almost to the day of sheer bloody minded determination. I never in my wildest imagining thought it would take that long, and cause so much heart ache. But then I also underestimated the impact it had. I am talking about the Combat Stress Therapeutic Garden, the concept for which I first had in August 2008 when I approached Toby Elliott, then Chief Executive of Combat Stress. A mad woman on a mission I must have appeared at the time, as we bullied people for donations, assistance and help. But then PTSD is a bit like that really. It raises its head when you least expect it, isn't easy to deal with, is little understood in reality and means different things to different people. What the garden did was help raise awareness of the problem. We handed out about 18,000 leaflets at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2010, and bearing in mind we only probably gave away 1 leaflet to every three people who walked through we did amazingly well.

And now the garden is where it is supposed to be; in the courtyard at Combat Stress' headquarters in Leatherhead. And it has transformed a barren, bare, bleak space into something fit for healing and peace. Every person involved in this, especially the unsung heroes, anonymous donors, hard working behind the scenes staff take a bow. You deserve it.

Update!

To say that the last few months have been hectic is an understatement. The Show (have to use capital letters here) was exhilarating, heartbreaking, exhausting, hot, fun and fulfilling. The press coverage we received was extraordinary and the garden was, if I am correct, one of the most requested destinations at Hampton Court. We had over 18,000 people through the garden. And it stood up to it. The resin-bound pathways (courtesy of Cirencester Civil Engineering) were an unmitigated success; we walked on them in high heels, flat shoes, clogs, sandals and bare feet and at the end of each day they looked fine.

We carried out a declared war against pigeons who did nothing but gorge themselves on the amelenchier berries (up to 6 on one tree) but at least we were not attacked by paraqueets! The weather was so hot we watered continuously, but by the end of the week the plants were looking even better than when they went in - in particular the echinacea which looked stunning.

However, without doubt the most fantastic part of the whole show was the feedback we received. It was outstanding. We had serving soldiers, ex-service personnel, wives, sisters, fathers, brothers, husbands and wives of those who had been out or still were in Afghanistan, in Iraq; those who had seen and felt the horrors of the Falklands and Northern Ireland, to name but a few places. Some having walked through the garden were in tears, others just silent, and some simply smiled and said 'thank you for doing this'. But what really overwhelmed me were that so many of the public had absolutely no idea of what PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is or does. And that includes those whom I would politely term 'the older generation', although describing PTSD as 'shell shock' garnered some understanding. Perhaps I am just naive having lived with the understanding of what PTSD does to so many ordinary people who suffer from it as a result of either an accident or work. PTSD is horrific and it is not just the person who suffers, but the whole family. I think though, and this may be contentious that in some instances PTSD is used inappropriately and can be used to cover a raft of different types of shock. I also feel that using the same words to describe what happens to service personnel and civilians does not do the sufferers (in either instance) justice. Service personnel are taught to cope with extreme situations in a way that civilians are not. They are highly trained, highly motivated, and work as a team; they expect to see and be in distressing situations as part of their work. They have different priorities and different ways of dealing with events that would leave most of us civilians completely immobile. PTSD suffered as a result of war time operations, should I think be given another name.

Therapeutic Gardens Update

It is interesting that I am so tired; I spent the day in London yesterday at a seminar. Admittedly it was pouring with rain and not an ideal day to be out and about. But the tiredness comes more from sitting in a room all day and not getting out and about in the countryside that I so take for granted. I know that I talk and believe in the importance of our environment and gardens, but I tend to forget just how much cities can drain our energy, particularly on grey, low light days such as we are experiencing now. It makes that view out of the window even more important.

I was attending a seminar the RHS were giving about exhibiting at the Hampton Court Flower Show in July where we hope to be showing the Combat Stress therapeutic garden. We have been asked to fine tune our design - so you will see some updated drawings on this page soon. We have also managed, with the assistance of the nimble fingers of the Combat Stress fundraising team, to create a Bmycharity.com page so that any donations given for this garden will attract Gift Aid (fingers crossed!). You can view the page - and make a donation (please please please) on http://www.bmycharity.com/v2/combatstressgarden. Please if you know any organisation or person who might be willing to support this fantastic concept do let them know about the page. You can email me with any questions/ideas you may have. It is all very gratefully received!

Combating Stress

After a day like today; driving all over the place, caught behind tractors (makes a change from traffic jams) and generally getting frustrated at the pace of things, or rather lack of it, it is wonderful to come back to the office and speak to people who are so incredibly 'pro' what we are trying to achieve with the show garden for Combat Stress.

I have uploaded an image of what the Combat Stress therapeutic garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show will look like - only it will be better! Our suppliers, and I know that Sean Farrell from Mobilane (who are supplying the fantastic ivy screen/walls that provide part of the garden boundaries) will not mind me mentioning him, are a constant source of inspiration. His energy and enthusiasm for this project is boundless. We are determined that this project happens. Our service men and women deserve the best that we can do for them - not only out on the ground, but here back at home. As do our really unsung heroes - the families, wives, partners, parents and children who support them.