Markyate Plant Sale celebrates Hospice’s 40th Birthday!
From modest beginnings, the much loved Markyate Plant Sale has raised nearly £95,000 for the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted. And this year we’re pulling out all the stops to celebrate the hospice’s 40th Birthday and raise even more for this wonderful local resource.
The sale will be held on Saturday 18th May from 10am in the picturesque gardens of 64 High Street, Markyate, AL3 8HZ.
In readiness for the sale over 7,000 popular annual bedding plants, as well as some colourful new varieties, were potted up by our specialist team - including the Chief Executive of the hospice. The plants have then been carefully grown on at Rothamsted Research Station, whose help in allowing us to use their premises is vital to the event. As well as annuals, there will also be a selection of herbs and vegetables, gorgeous hanging baskets (renowned for their long life) and a wider than ever range of perennials and shrubs on sale.
To complete your visit, you can enjoy savoury filled rolls, home baked cakes and freshly brewed tea and coffee whilst being entertained by The Jolly Jazzers. There’ll be fun for the children too and a host of great raffle prizes to be won. What’s more ENTRY IS FREE – so save the date now!
THE 40TH BIRTHDAY OF THE HOSPICE OF ST FRANCIS
Faith, belonging and coffee stirred ‘The Originals’, a group of energetic individuals led by Pam MacPherson, to establish the hospice in June 1979. Their passion for founding a hospice to provide outstanding care to the dying, for whom there was no care, to help people live their precious lives well, free from pain and anxieties, and be there for bereaved family members, including children, is at the heart of everything the hospice does today. How we live our lives, right up to the end, and how we say farewell always matters.
The Markyate Plant Sale has held a special place in the hospice’s annual calendar for over 22 years and helped them to flourish be spreading awareness of their work and generating vitally needed funds. Because of volunteers coming together to put on wonderful community initiatives like ours, they were able to start supporting 20 people that has now grown to 2,000 people a year. In the next ten years however, the hospice estimate that more than 4,000 people every year will need to rely on them and in turn they will put their faith in communities such as ours to support them. By buying at and supporting the Markyate Plant Sale you are fortifying the hospice for the future and helping them to sustain their care.
For further information please contact:
Ian Bradley: 01582 943133/ ie.bradley@talktalk.net
Facebook: Markyate PlantSale
Twitter: @markyateplants
