Chichester District Foodbank to Sing in Trussell’s Together Garden at Chelsea Flower Show
We’re so excited to let you know that our food bank singing group ‘Hope in Harmony’ will be performing at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in Trussell’s Together Garden on Monday 18 May (press day).
This is an opportunity we’re incredibly grateful for, and one that reflects everything our group is about; community, connection and coming together through music.
Hope in Harmony is a new joint singing for wellbeing project with Sing to Health and Chichester District Foodbank, made up of food bank staff, volunteers, supporters and customers. What brings us together is a shared space where everyone is welcome.
Singing together has a way of building confidence, lifting spirits and creating connection in a way that words sometimes can’t. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about showing up and being part of something.
That sense of togetherness is exactly what Trussell’s Together Garden represents. Designed by Rob Hardy and funded by Project Giving Back, the garden is inspired by the power of communities working together - from food banks supporting people today to all of us playing a part in ending hunger in the UK.
The garden is designed as a welcoming, shared space, echoing those first moments in a food bank where someone feels listened to over a cup of tea. It includes a seating area that can shift from a quiet, reflective space into a larger communal one, showing how small actions can create meaningful change. The planting brings together a rich mix of textures and colours, with each element playing its part in creating something stronger as a whole.
It also carries an important message. Last year, more than 2.6 million emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across the UK, including over 900,000 for children. Food banks are a lifeline, but they are not the solution. Hunger in the UK isn’t a food problem, it’s an income problem. People simply don’t have enough to afford the essentials.
The Together Garden helps tell that story - showing not only the support that food banks provide today, but also the need for long-term change so that everyone has enough to live on. It’s about what can happen when people come together, each playing their part.
After the show, the garden will be relocated to Strabane Foodbank in Northern Ireland, where it will become a lasting space for the community.
For us, being part of this is incredibly special. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to sing at Chelsea and to help raise awareness of the important work that Trussell and food banks across the UK do every day.
We’ve been practising hard, building our confidence week by week, and we can’t wait to be there on the day. When we sing, we’ll be thinking about everyone who has been part of our journey so far, and about the power of community to bring people together and create change.
