Home & Garden Show celebrates record visitor numbers
More than 10,000 people visited the Home & Garden Show 2008, held over the weekend at Chester Racecourse. Visitors explored cooking, gardening and interior design zones, each with famous names presenting demonstrations. The show featured sets from interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, celebrity chef Simon Rimmer, interior designer Laura McCree and TV Chef Tiffany. Actress and model Gemma Atkinson, who also starred in I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, met three teenage cancer patients in a room she designed in conjunction with the Teenage Cancer Trust and Arighi Bianchi.
Gemma’s room won the judges’ special award in The Northern Design Awards, which took place on Saturday 30th May at the Chester Grosvenor Hotel & Spa. The room will form the basis for a suite for teenage cancer sufferers which Macclesfield’s Arighi Bianchi will go on to create full-scale for Christie Hospital in Manchester.
Event director Mandy White, said: “This year’s Home & Garden Show has been a big success, not just for us but for Chester as a whole. We were delighted to attract big names such as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, BBC chef Simon Rimmer and a host of other stars to the Racecourse and look forward to welcoming even more celebrity guests to our event next year, firmly establishing the Home & Garden Show as a key event in the design calendar.”
Speaking to a packed audience, interior designer and broadcaster Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen re-affirmed the place of design in the stalling property market and heralded the return of wallpaper: “There has been a big surge of property shows over the last five years that have promoted what I would call “make-unders” instead of make-overs. People have been painting their homes in boring beiges and ‘bogey’ colours. There is a fear that if you create something interesting you won’t be able to sell your home. I think this is rubbish and as the property market is calming down, people are realising again that their home is not just an asset, but a living space. People are interesting and should have interesting interiors.
Wallpaper has moved on from the dowdy image of 15 years ago. Wallpaper is art. When I create new designs, it’s about taking a line for a walk and creating a viewing experience that should be a constant pleasure. Wallpaper is a versatile medium that has an ability to dissolve corners and make rooms seem more spacious. Above all, wallpaper shows decorating with real commitment.
Don’t decorate to sell, imitate your parents or keep up with the Joneses, decorate for you.”
Next year’s event will take place on 29th-31st May.
ENDS — 431 words
Notes:
Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity devoted to helping teenagers fight cancer. Six teenagers are diagnosed with cancer each day, that’s over 2,000 every year. But these young patients don’t stop being teenagers just because they get cancer. Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) ensures that young cancer patients get the best possible care in hospital and the chance to do all the things that other teenagers do.
TCT funds specialist teenage cancer units in NHS hospitals, with the aim being to give every young person with cancer access to a unit and improve survival rates — TCT currently has 9 units around the country and is planning to open a further 14 units by 2012. It costs around £2million to open a new unit, all of which TCT has to raise. TCT currently has a unit at The Christie Hospital, Manchester, and Alderhey, Liverpool.
Funds are also needed to upgrade the current 13 bed unit at The Christie Hospital, which cares for young people aged between 16 and 24 years old. The refurbishment will provide a new recreational area, educational space and additional beds.
For more information about TCT and how you can get involved, call 0207 612 0370 or visit www.teenagecancertrust.org TCT is a registered charity, no. 1062559
For more details on the Home & Garden Show visit: www.thehomeandgardenshow.co.uk
Home & Garden Show contact: Mandy White Mob: 07798 614146 Tel: 01244 663400 ext 306 Email: info@northerndesignawards.com and info@thehomeandgardenshow.co.uk Press Contacts: Jane Harrad-Roberts Mob: 07785 395705 Phil Brotherhood Mob: 07884 493370 Tel: 01244 330000 MARKETING PROJECTS Email: info@marketingprojects.co.uk
Return to The Home & Garden Show 2008 listings
> Return to Client Press Office
