News & Events
Accountant takes on Chelsea Flower Show
09 May 2008
Martin Anderson MBE, a founder member and former trustee of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, will be exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show to raise awareness and promote the work of the Scottish MND Association and the MND Association.Martin will be recreating a traditional Shetland croft house garden, complete with Shetland pony for the six day event.
Martin first came up with the idea of recreating a Shetland croft house garden while on holiday on the islands where he became fascinated with the crofts and their history. He saw how the plants on the islands tolerated the harsh conditions so long as they were given shelter by the dry stone walls. He saw this as an analogy for the support and shelter given by the MND Association to people with MND and their carers.
Martin first visited the Chelsea Flower Show last May. After talking to an exhibitor he became inspired to create a design for Chelsea. Martin explains: “I did not think I stood a good chance of getting accepted. There are about 1,400 applicants for ten suites. I’m up against garden professionals and I’m just an accountant!”
Through Nottingham Trent University Martin was put in touch with Sue Hayward, a former student to come up with a design. The finished design of a façade of a typical Shetland croft house garden, a small yard for vegetables, shrubs and flowers, a fence made of driftwood, a table holding alpines, and a Shetland pony are now just waiting to be fitted and reconstructed at Chelsea.
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Notes to editors
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show takes place on 20 – 24 May.
