RHS Chelsea Provided The Perfect Opportunity To Present Horatio’s Garden With A Very Special Painting By The Wonky Artist

We captured a very special moment at RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year, when we were able to present the painting created at RHS Chelsea 2022 by wonky artist Rachel Smith, to Dr Olivia Chapple of Horatio’s Garden.

Last year at RHS Chelsea we ran a fundraising event for Horatio’s Garden on Press Day. Press Day is well known as a magnet for celebrities who have the privilege of attending the show in advance of members of the public to take a look at what the UK’s finest garden designers have produced to delight the crowds.

For those of our followers who will recall, last year we gathered together as many celebrities as we could to contribute to a painting by Rachel Smith. We approached Rachel, who otherwise goes under the moniker of The Wonky Artist, last year about collaborating on a fundraiser for Horatio’s Garden.  Having been a spinal injuries patient following an accident that left Rachel with the lifelong need to use a wheelchair, she wanted to contribute back as thanks for the care she received whilst a patient in one of the UK’s 11 Spinal Cord Injuries Specialist Units so it was the perfect collaboration.

Rachel took up painting as part of her rehabilitation process and has gained quite a following for her work on social media, and so creating a painting of the garden in Salisbury – the first garden created by the charity – and then inviting visiting celebs to help finish it off was a great opportunity to create something that could be auctioned off to raise funds.

With contributions from Dame Darcey Bussell, Rick Stein, Jo Whiley, Deborah Meaden, Nigel Slater, Charlotte Church, Sophie Raworth and Linford Christie amongst many, many others, we hope that the painting will raise much needed cash to fund the work of the charity.  We were able to document the contributions, get signatures of contributors and combine this in a ‘look book’ that will be auctioned off along with the painting later in 2023 as a provenance document.

We were also visited by Hugo Bugg at Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, who made a contribution to the painting. This was an apt and fitting addition given that the auction, to be held in the autumn, will help fundraise for Horatio’s Sheffield which is to be designed by Hugo and fellow designer and partner, Charlotte Harris.

It was a special moment to cherish, and we now have our fingers crossed for some record auction results for the painting later in the year. Watch our social media accounts for an announcement of the auction date as the event nears.