My first 100 days
National Garden Scheme Chief Executive, Dr Richard Claxton, reflects on his first 100 days in post.
It’s been 100 days since I started in my new role at the National Garden Scheme, and I’ve been asked to write a few lines on how it’s gone. I can say with my hand on my heart that I couldn’t be happier – and I think, by-and-large, it’s gone really well.
The National Garden Scheme is a wonderful institution – a national treasure – and I joke with people when they ask me: “So far, so good – I haven’t broken it yet!”. Getting to know the charity, and its inner workings better has been so affirming. It’s such a simple and beautiful model, so lean and efficient – with an amazing and hard-working team at Hatchlands HQ. All of what the staff here do is about supporting the extraordinary generosity of all the three and a half thousand Garden Owners, and the six hundred Volunteers who are the driving force behind the charity. The income that their garden openings, cake and plant sales generate pivots around the team here – and straight into the hands of the beneficiary charities.
“So far so good – I haven’t broken it yet!”
As well as supporting community garden projects, apprenticeships, trainees and the wider horticultural profession, it’s the healthcare impact of what happens to the money raised that really appeals to me. As a GP it sometimes feels frustrating as to what one can and can’t change for each patient from the consulting room – in the context of a system so very much under real strain. There’s an ever-changing landscape of need and a resource envelope that will never be enough to meet it.
So, the fact that the money we raise through garden openings can amount to the hundreds of thousands of pounds that bolsters and supports organisations like Hospice UK, Carer’s Trust, Parkinson’s UK, Macmillan, Marie Curie, the Queen’s Institute for Community Nursing, Horatio’s Gardens, the Army Benevolent Fund, and Maggie’s is wonderful. And I often reflect that my new job is more impactful from a population/public health point of view than it ever could have been one patient at a time, as a GP.
That said, perhaps what’s slightly more profound to me is the fact that it’s now been 101 days since my last day working as a GP in my practice in Tonbridge, and the other side of this landmark is how much I miss my colleagues, and especially my patients. The send-off I got was deeply moving, with so many kind messages and gifts. I was truly lucky to work in a fabulous practice, based in a lovely town with a great population.
“Now, the new year turns our thoughts to the new season of garden openings, and we travel round the country to meet with regional teams of volunteers, just as the as the snowdrops give way to the daffodils, and Britain’s gardens start to bloom once again.”
So, now that I’m more familiar with the nuts and bolts of the role, the real work begins. Just like in our gardens the seasons move onwards and with them the annual rotation of tasks and processes that keep the charity and all the people connected with it moving forward. November and December; veg harvested and leaves raked and tidied away, saw the reflection at the season’s end, the accumulation of all the hard-earned donations and their distribution to the grateful recipient charities. Now, the new year turns our thoughts to the new season of garden openings, and we travel round the country to meet with regional teams of volunteers, just as the as the snowdrops give way to the daffodils, and Britain’s gardens start to bloom once again.
And of course, in no time at all, just like many of you, I’ll be spending my weekends visiting as many gardens as I can – enjoying the welcome and hospitality, not to mention the tea and cake – in all these special and private gardens whose secrets are revealed to us visitors in the most extraordinarily generous and special way.
For more about Richard’s appointment click here
