Welsh Slate products to feature on Terrence Higgins Trust's
garden at RHS Chelsea.
A showcase of Welsh Slate products
will feature on the ‘Terrence Higgins Trust Bridge to 2030 garden' at the RHS
Chelsea Flower Show this year (May 21-25).
Supported by grant-giving
charity Project Giving Back and designed by Matthew Childs who grew up in
Wales, it will celebrate the work of Terrence Higgins Trust and its 2030 vision
of there being no new HIV cases, where people with HIV are supported and live
well and there is good sexual health for all.
The garden is inspired by
rejuvenated slate quarry landscapes, which are used as a metaphor for
resilience and how much things have changed with HIV in the UK since the 1980s.
Key features in the garden
include a striking monolith Welsh Slate stepping stone bridge and steps
produced from custom cuts and bi-product of Ffestiniog slate. Supplementing
this will be a textural path produced from Type 2 pillared, rustic and narrow pillared
walling, all from the Ffestiniog quarry.
The path will be complemented
by a contemporary dry stone wall produced from reclaimed Ffestiniog walling
slate, in addition to planting in crevices created by Ffestiniog primary
off-cuts - sawn off-cuts from slate blocks before they are split.
Boulders from Welsh Slate's
Penrhyn Quarry will also feature throughout the garden - one as a balancing
sculpture, one as part of Welsh designer Swyn Anwyl Williams' furniture design,
and another will have cuts as a water feature.
Reclaimed Ffestiniog roofing
slates will clad the interior sides of the tiered garden pond at the front of
the garden, and paths and garden mulches will be formed from Welsh Slate
aggregate - Grey Blinding 14mm to dust and Grey 10mm to 20mm.
Matthew said: "I decided
that the idea for a garden that I'd had 10 years ago was something I wanted to
make happen and the generosity of Welsh Slate has been instrumental in helping
me achieve my vision for the Bridge to 2030 garden."
