Hannah and Rachel - Brits with the green-fingered X Factor - chosen to shape 2012 garden
163/09
30 November 2009
Two amateur gardeners have won a public vote to help create a quarter acre garden on the Olympic Park, Tessa Jowell announced today.
Thousands of members of the public voted online to choose the winners of the RHS Olympic Park Great British Garden Competition. Eleven year old Hannah Clegg from Malmesbury in Wiltshire won the young people’s section of the competition, with Rachel Read from Colchester winning in the adult category. They beat off competition from hundreds of rivals to work with professional designers to help create the garden in the London 2012 Olympic Park.
Run in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and the Olympic Delivery Authority, the competition invited green-fingered Brits to submit their own ideas for a quarter acre garden in the London 2012 Olympic park showing off to the world the unique qualities of a British domestic garden.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said:
“Hannah and Rachel’s designs reflect the best of British with an Olympic twist so it is easy to see why they captured the imagination of the public. The chance for them to work with professional designers and bring their ideas to life on the Olympic Park is one they will never forget. Our green fingers are known the world over and this garden is a celebration of that talent that will live on long after the Games are over. I will be taking a keen interest in seeing the garden grow between now and 2012.”
Hannah Clegg said:
"I was so excited I jumped up and down when Daddy told me the news! I'd like to say a thank you to all the people who voted for my design and I'm really looking forward to working towards the final garden."
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Rachel Read said:
"It was fantastic to have been shortlisted and overwhelming to win. I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who supported my entry and voted for my design. I'm really looking forward to working with Hannah and the parklands design team to develop a garden in the Olympic Park which can be enjoyed by all during the Games for years to come. To see the garden come to life will be amazing and it’s a real honour to be part of it."
Prize winners Hannah and Rachel got to work straight away with a tour of the Olympic Park today (30th November). As well as seeing the area where their garden will be built ready to bloom into life for the London 2012 Games they discussed their plans with Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, Olympic Gold medallist Jonathan Edwards and ODA Chief Executive David Higgins.
The winners will now attend a series of workshops with the Park’s landscape team to design a single garden that incorporates their ideas. The landscape work on the garden will begin in 2010 and will be completed in 2011, allowing time for the garden to mature ready to be enjoyed during the Games and beyond.
Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards said:
“London 2012 is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the country and it’s great to have Hannah and Rachel on board. The parklands will be the centrepiece of the Olympic Park and they will be designing a garden that will be enjoyed by spectators and athletes during the Games and people using the park for generations to come.”
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Chief Executive, David Higgins said:
“It is a privilege to welcome our budding new designers to the world-class team that will create the parklands for London 2012 and legacy. They will work together to design a Great British Garden that will be a much enjoyed addition to the park that is already taking shape as a green backdrop for the Games themselves and the largest new urban park in the UK for a century.”
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Gordon Seabright, Acting Director General of the RHS said:
“Through this competition we have found some true stars of the gardening world in Hannah and Rachel. Their designs were fresh, imaginative and inspired and as such I look forward to seeing them exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show one day.”
Six finalists from each of the two age categories, 16 and under and over 17, were shortlisted through to the final round. And, although not shortlisted for the final vote, the judges awarded special commendations to two schools that submitted group entries, “The Acorn” students from Pulborough in West Sussex and Class 1 & 2 of South Hiendley School in Wakefield, due to the originality of their designs.
Runners-up in the 16 years and under category are:
- Ben Rubin-Moberg, aged 7 from Reigate. Ben’s design mixed traditional British plants and trees like elderflowers and roses with invented activities such as the ‘Canoe trail’, a special canoe on a rail that children can peddle around the garden’s pond.
- Tanya Ward, aged 14 from Rugby. Tanya designed a ‘secret garden’ with hidden benches, wild-flowers and a pond designed to attract wildlife.
- James Callicott, aged 15 from Prestwood. James’ garden design was based upon the Tudor rose but includes flowers from across the globe such as lavender from Portugal and Edelweiss from Austria to symbolise nations joining together to take part in the Olympics.
- Skandan Sithamparanathan, aged 13 from Rochester. Skandan’s design was a ‘united wheel’ surrounded by a small river and paths that reflect the Olympic rings.
- Harriet Smith aged 7 from Hadleigh. Harriet’s garden was full of blooming flowers, wildlife and rabbits with a tent at the centre for people to hide in and watch the animals.
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Runners-up in the 17 years and over category are:
- Emma Graham from Ipswich whose great-grandfather won a gold and silver medal for Great Britain in the 1908 London Games. Emma’s garden used the Olympic rings as the inspiration for her design, with areas of flowers, herbs and plants traditionally found in the UK.
- Susan Summers from Winchester. Susan’s garden was split into four areas to represent different experiences of the Olympics; the on-looker, participating, training and success.
- Joanne Slade from Chelmsford. Joanne’s concept was based around the ‘Ekecheiria truce’ that saw ancient Greeks suspend wars and rivalries to take part in the Olympics. It is designed to be a place of peace and tranquillity for visitors.
- Sian Astington from Crewe. Sian’s garden references the London 2012 logo and was designed to be in bloom all year round. It includes traditional British flowers and sights such as scare-crows and greenhouses.
- Angela Jones from Carshalton Beeches. Angela’s garden used objects and items found in thousands of gardens across the UK to recreate a domestic garden including a pond, children’s play-area, lawn, shed and even a couple of Olympics-inspired garden gnomes!
The inspiration for the modern Olympic Games can be traced back to British doctor, William Penny Brookes who held the first Much Wenlock ‘Olympian Games’ in 1850. It was after a visit to Much Wenlock in Shropshire in 1890 that Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the modern Olympic Games, was inspired to stage the first Olympics of the modern era, at Athens in 1896.
All entrants were asked to consider opportunities to incorporate a ‘de Coubertin’ Oak tree, currently being grown in Kew from seedlings taken from an oak tree de Coubertin planted himself in Much Wenlock, into their garden design.
ODA project sponsor for Parklands and Public Realm, John Hopkins said:
“The winning design ideas are wonderful and appropriate to the Olympic Park. We look forward to working through these ideas with the winners and our world-class landscape architect and garden designer into a wonderful and magical garden celebrating the British passion for gardening, the Games and Much Wenlock.”
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Notes to Editors
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More information on the competition and the winners’ entries is available on the RHS website.
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Images of the winning designs and today’s event can be downloaded from the Getty Images website.
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Interviews with the winners are available upon request. Please contact Ben Hurley, Olympic Delivery Authority press office (0203 2012 620) for further details.
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Entrants were asked to outline their idea for the garden a written/typed A4 sheet of paper - including its inspiration, a broad-brush out-line of the type of plants, flowers, trees, features and furniture used. Entrants were also asked to submit a layout of their design with the entry form.
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Entrants were free to use whatever plants, flowers and trees they feel reflect a British garden. Seating and water features could also be incorporated into the design.
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The competition is part of the London 2012 Inspire programme. The London 2012 Inspire programme is an opportunity for everyone to be a part of the London 2012 Games; a broad participation programme spanning sport participation, medal table performance development, culture, education, sustainability, business skills and volunteering. New opportunities are being created to inspire young people and encourage the whole of the UK to join in.
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The Olympic Park in east London will provide the focus for the Games with the main stadium and several other venues arranged around the spectacular parklands either side of the rivers and waterways within the Park. The Parklands, which will remain in legacy for all the public to enjoy, bring together the great British tradition and passion for landscape and garden design, plant collecting and gardening.
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The garden will be part of over 100 hectares of open space that will be created in the Olympic Park - the largest urban park created in Europe for 150 years, which will include 45 hectares of wildlife habitat. It will use the latest green techniques to manage flood and rain water while providing quieter public space and habitats for hundreds of existing and rare species from kingfishers to otters.
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For further information please call Rhiannon Spellman, Olympics Desk, DCMS Press Office on 020 7211 6145, Georgina Webb, Royal Horticultural Society Press Office on 020 7821 3044 or Ben Hurley, Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on 0203 2012 620.
Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200
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