The co-founder of the charity Horatio\u2019s Garden on channelling personal grief into a series of gardens that are helping to transform the lives of patients recovering from spinal injuries. Words Lia Leendertz, portrait Charlie Hopkinson <\/p>

In the awfulness of everything, it became clear we needed to complete what Horatio had set out to do <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Olivia went on to work as a GP but a tragedy changed the course of her life. Her eldest son, Horatio Chapple, was killed in a polar bear attack on an expedition to Svalbard, aged just 17. Like his parents, Horatio\u2019s ambition had been to become a doctor, and he had spent the past year volunteering at the Spinal Treatment Centre at Salisbury District Hospital. But like Olivia he also had a great appreciation of the therapeutic benefits of gardens. \u201cHe was a boy who loved the outdoors, and while he was volunteering he noticed that the patients, who often spent many months in the centre, had no access to outdoor space,\u201d says Olivia. \u201cHe had decided to create a garden.\u201d She and her husband tried to put him off at first with talk of bureaucracy and red tape, but Horatio pushed on, surveying patients and staff, and they soon realised he was determined to make it happen. By the time of his death he and the hospital chairman had identified an area of car park that could be a space for the garden, rough plans had been drawn up, and he had started raising money for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the awfulness of everything that happened it quickly became clear that we needed to make the garden idea work, as a focus for ourselves but also to complete what Horatio had set out to do.\u201d There was a great outpouring of sadness and sympathy following his death, and enough money was raised to set the charity on course to go beyond even what Horatio had planned to achieve. \u201cWe found that we had enough money to do everything he had hoped to do, and to do it beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olivia stopped working as a GP and poured all of her time and energy into Horatio\u2019s Garden, as the project and charity soon became known. It has been as helpful to her as it has been to the patients who have benefitted from the garden. \u201cWhen you lose a child you lose all of your hopes, dreams and expectations for them in a moment, and you have to somehow find a new way to be a mother. This became mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
That garden at Salisbury, designed by Cleve West<\/a>, was the first and set a template for what the others would need to do. For subsequent gardens the charity has also made use of experienced, high profile designers: James Alexander-Sinclair<\/a>, Joe Swift and Bunny Guinness, with Tom Stuart-Smith<\/a>\u2019s design for the fifth garden at the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre opening this summer. Sarah Price<\/a> is working on the sixth in Cardiff and Andy Sturgeon<\/a> is lined up to design a seventh at the Spinal Cord Injuries Unit in Belfast. Olivia feels proud that they have taken Horatio\u2019s idea so far. \u201cWe decided early on that we wanted to trailblaze. By choosing outstanding designers at the top of their field we set a quality standard. It showed the patients that they deserve the best, that the outside world cares for them, that they are cherished. We have changed expectations of what can be achieved in gardens in a hospital setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olivia now dedicates all of her time to working for Horatio\u2019s Garden, leading the charity as a full time volunteer, concentrating on design and development. \u201cThis project has been a focus for my mothering,\u201d she says. \u201cI knew I had to create something extraordinary in the name of our extraordinary boy, and that is what this has become.\u201d She is hugely proud of Horatio\u2019s initial vision for the garden, and of his energy and determination to make it happen. \u201cHoratio\u2019s Garden was borne out of immense sadness,\u201d she says, \u201cbut the gardens have brought such happiness, and there is not a day when I\u2019m not told what a difference they have made to someone\u2019s life. It has become such a fitting legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s more about Horatio\u2019s Garden at Chelsea Flower Show<\/a><\/p>\n
Useful information Horatio\u2019s Garden, 2 Throope Down Office, Blandford Road, Coombe Bissett, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP5 4LN. Registered charity number 1151475\/SC045386. Tel 01722 326834, horatiosgarden.org.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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