Celebrity gardeners come together to help Chichester charity raising funds for refugees

Maggie Haynes (left) introduces the panel of gardening experts.

Celebrity gardeners and an inquisitive green-fingered audience came together at organic enterprise Tuppenny Barn to raise funds for a Chichester-based charity that is supporting Ukraine children displaced by the war in their country.

At the end of the evening in the host’s education centre at Southbourne, many horticultural questions were answered and £2,000 was raised for Children on the Edge.

The special Gardeners’ Question Time event was chaired by Annie Guilfoyle, a well-known landscape gardener andRoyal Horticultural Society Chelsea judge and featured experts Arit Anderson, TV presenter for Gardeners’ Worldand landscape gardener, Tom Brown, the head gardener at West Dean and Ben Pope, a much-admired horticulturist that lives and gardens in West Sussex.

Annie Whillians, a fundraiser for Children on the Edge, gave an update of the charity’s work with the Ukraine children refugees.

Arit Anderson (left) with Annie Guilfoyle (centre) and Maggie Haynes.

She said afterwards: “We were delighted to be part of this special event hosted by our friends at Tuppenny Barn.

"It was a wonderful evening, which raised an incredible amount to support our work with Ukrainian refugees.

“Thank you to the team at Tuppenny Barn and the fantastic panel for putting on such a brilliant event.”

Maggie Haynes, the Chief Executive Officer of Tuppenny Barn, said the event’s success was due to the quality ofpanellists, support from the local community and the overall sponsorship of Southern Coop.

She said: “This was a first for us and we were delighted to attract some of the biggest names in horticulture to take part,”

“We also gave our guests a tour of the organic plots here and provided them with a taste of the Tuppenny produce that we grow here.”