It all started with the Chelsea Flower Show. Multi gold medal winning designer Patrick Collins had stunned visitors with his beautiful Chengdu Silk Road Garden at the show in May. As his daughter Izzy was leaving Linden Lodge that summer after years as a pupil, Patrick and his wife Sarah asked to donate some of the plants from his garden to the grounds of the school. Patrick designed a Memory Garden for the far corner of the grounds, somewhere pupils could visit and talk about friends who had moved on to college.

The call went out for volunteers and soon parents were chatting about different wheelchair models as they sawed wood and double dug the soil, helping Patrick to build and plant the area in four days.

When Deputy Head David Shaw popped over to help in his lunch break he was so impressed by parents’ efforts, the, ahem, seed was planted that the school could and should have a parent/staff association.

The Memory Garden was opened by the Collins’ friend and presenter of BBC show Gardener’s World, Arit Anderson who had got stuck in with the build too. It remains a beautiful and reflective part of the school grounds. C@LL’s first meeting was held the following term. What an extraordinary double legacy for the family - a memory garden AND a PSA. Thank you Patrick, Sarah, Lillie and of course, Iz.