Portishead lifeboat crew help inspire the RNLI Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Portishead lifeboat crew help inspire the RNLI Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Inspiration for the stunning RNLI Garden due to be unveiled next month at RHS Chelsea Flower Show by award-winning designer Chris Beardshaw came, in part, from moving conversations with volunteers at Portishead Lifeboat Station.

Chris, a lifelong RNLI supporter, visited Portishead lifeboat station last year when he was researching ideas for the garden. Crew members told him what it is like to volunteer for the charity, how it feels to save a life and what it means to provide a vital service for the local community.

Chris said: ‘I have dived and sailed for much of my life and the RNLI is a charity very dear to me, but speaking to the Portishead volunteers really brought home to me what an incredible job the RNLI does.

‘Much of their work is unseen by most of us, being carried out quietly and modestly by volunteer crews and lifeguards, but the result is astonishing – thousands of people aided every year, families reunited and many more helped with safety advice. The Portishead crew brought that to life, providing the foundation for my design and helping me create a garden which, hopefully, will do the RNLI proud.’

He returned to Portishead Lifeboat Station recently to reveal his garden design and talk through what some of the key elements represent.

Portishead RNLI’s volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager, Dave Slack, said he and other crew members were honoured to have helped inspire Chris’s RHS Chelsea design.

Dave added: ‘The way Chris has interpreted what we told him and found a way to represent the work of the RNLI in his beautiful garden design is really incredible. The understated style and colours of the garden is just right for the way our volunteers go about their work – we’re very proud of what we do, but we’re not in your face about it.

‘And the green oak façade at the back of the garden, with its central beacon of light, represents for me that return to shore from the danger of the elements that we can’t control during a rescue. Lifeboats can be miles out at sea but knowing there is that light helping to guide them back home is a huge comfort during a difficult rescue, both for the crew and the people they have saved.’

As well as talking to RNLI volunteers, Chris turned to the charity’s heritage for inspiration. The materials used to build the original wooden lifeboats when the RNLI was established almost 200 years ago are hinted at in large statement trees, while the oak pavilion features traditional columns and a carved inscription in the Georgian style that was popular at that time.

The result is a calm and confident garden that inspires inquisitiveness, looks back to look forward and echoes the charity’s sense of permanence, while offering a space in which to reflect on the many elements of the RNLI’s work.

Joining Chris at Portishead to reveal his design was Hattie Ghaui from Project Giving Back, the unique grant-making organisation which is providing the generous funding for the RNLI Garden.

Hattie said: ‘It was very humbling to meet Dave and the other volunteers and to hear how the garden resonates and represents the spirit and the work of the RNLI. The garden will be a great tribute to them and I can’t wait to see it unveiled at RHS Chelsea Flower Show next month.’

This will be the first time the RNLI has had a Show Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which runs 24-28 May. The charity hopes the garden will make a lifesaving difference, celebrating both its incredible heritage and the dedication of its volunteers, past, present and future.

For more information visit: rnli.org/Chelsea

Media contacts

• For more information, contact Charlotte Cranny-Evans, RNLI Media Engagement, 07393 763 780, [email protected]
• For media enquiries for Chris Beardshaw please contact Jane Southcott pr, [email protected], 07787 527430

Picture captions

1. Chris Beardshaw meets RNLI Portishead volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager, Dave Slack. Credit Helen Lazenby/RNLI
2. Chris Beardshaw’s design for the RNLI Garden. Credit @freehandlines

Video Link here to video of Chris Beardshaw revealing his RNLI Garden design to Portishead RNLI volunteers. Credit RNLI.

Notes to Editors

Project Giving Back

Project Giving Back (PGB) is a unique grant-making scheme that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on UK charitable fundraising. It will fund gardens inspired by a range of good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Find out more at www.givingback.org.uk

Chris Beardshaw

Renowned plantsman, designer and broadcaster Chris Beardshaw is a 13 times RHS gold medal winning designer who won Best in Show for his RHS Chelsea Garden in 2018. His plant filled Show Gardens are always popular with gardeners which has been reflected in him being awarded the BBC People’s Choice award on five occasions. Chris is involved with a wide range of private client garden designs, large scale public horticultural schemes and educational initiatives. His broadcasting career spans over 25 years and he can currently be heard as a regular panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question. For further details on all of Chris’ latest projects, please visit: www.chrisbeardshaw.com

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.