Dr Olivia Chapple, founder and chairman of trustees at Horatio’s Garden, was recognised in the list with an OBE for her ‘exceptional services to charity’. In 2012, Olivia with her husband David set up the charity Horatio’s Garden, creating fully accessible garden projects across the UK to give people with spinal injuries, as well as their families and NHS staff, places for reflection and adjustment. The charity is a legacy to her eldest son Horatio, an aspiring doctor, whose research identified the need for a garden for patients in the NHS spinal injury centre where he was a volunteer.
Gobowen’s garden was the fourth to be opened across the UK in 2019 and is treated as a sanctuary for those who need it. She said: “There are so many people who share in this honour but I devote it to Horatio, whose immense courage and kindness infuses me every day. “He was ahead of his time when he realised how gardens could be essential places for people with spinal injuries going through the most difficult of times.
“Today, because of Horatio’s research and vision, we are supporting thousands of people. “In the next five years, we hope to ensure that no-one with a spinal injury in the UK should have to spend months in hospital without being connected to nature.” Victoria Holton, Trustee of Horatio’s Garden who spent 19 months in hospital after a spinal injury before there was a Horatio’s Garden, said: “Olivia’s trailblazing vision and passion to achieve a future .
