18th June 2024
On Saturday 15 June, Horatio’s Garden officially opened in the Spinal Cord Injuries Unit (SCIU) in Musgrave Park Hospital.
It is the seventh garden by UK-based charity Horatio’s Garden which has ambition to sustainably grow thriving communities and biodiverse gardens in all 11 NHS spinal injury centres in the UK.
Horatio’s Garden for Northern Ireland was created by nine times RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist, Andy Sturgeon. It was completed at Christmas last year providing a sanctuary outside hospital wards and clinical settings. Special features include a first dedicated boccia court; a sport played by Paralympians located in a social area with parasols and sensory planting.
It also has a warm garden room with timber cladding and a green roof and garden pods offering shelter, privacy and socialising spaces with a large greenhouse for garden therapy and growing.
L-R: Suzanne Maguire, Consultant at the Spinal Injury Unit, Heather Jackson, Director of Trauma, Orthopaedics, Rehab Services and Maternity, Dental Gynae and Sexual Health, Martyn Neil, Chair of Division for Trauma, Orthopaedics and Rehab Services, Olivia Chapple, Founder of Horatio’s Garden, Ciaran Mulgrew, Belfast Trust Chairman and Julie Mulligan, Co-Director of Trauma, Orthopaedics and Rehab Services.
Speaking on the benefits the garden will have for patients at the Spinal Cord Injuries Unit, Dr Cathy Jack, Chief Executive at Belfast Trust, said:
“I am delighted Horatio’s Garden is officially open at Musgrave Park Hospital. Our team at the Spinal Cord Injuries Unit have enjoyed working with the charity to support the development of the beautiful therapeutic garden. The space will bring immense physical and psychological benefits to our patients, giving them the opportunity to leave the clinical ward environment and enjoy the outdoors during their time in rehabilitation. Our dedicated staff will also benefit from the environment and are looking forward to seeing the positive impact it will have on the amazing care they provide to our patients. I want to thank everyone who has made it possible for us to be home to Horatio’s Garden in Northern Ireland.”
Discussing the event, Dr Olivia Chapple, Founder and Chair of Trustees of Horatio’s Garden said:
“I would like to thank everyone who has so generously donated, fundraised and volunteered to enable the seventh Horatio’s Garden to be created in Belfast. Now, anyone with a life changing spinal injury from across Northern Ireland, will have this outstandingly beautiful garden to support them in their rehabilitation and adjustment during the months they spend in hospital.”
Sharing his thought’s on the garden’s official opening, Andy Sturgeon, designer of Horatio’s Garden Northern Ireland, said: “It was an enormous privilege to be asked to design Horatio’s Garden Northern Ireland. As a garden designer, it’s very unusual to get an opportunity to have such a positive and fundamental impact on people’s lives. It’s fantastic to have created this place that will foster wellbeing during long periods of rehabilitation and have a transformative effect on thousands of patients and their loved ones. This garden, I feel, is making a real difference.”
You can find out more about the garden and how you can get involved on Horatio’s Garden’s website.