Latest news with #TayshanHayden-Smith
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'The magic of Chelsea Flower Show is undeniable but it's extremely out of touch'
Activist and avid gardener Tayshan Hayden-Smith reveals his issues with the Chelsea Gardening Show and his plans to create a more inclusive gardening event catering towards wider communities Frequented by everyone from the Royals to David Beckham, the Chelsea Flower Show is one of Britain's most prized institutions. But a former ambassador for the show, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, has called out its culture of 'exclusivity' and 'spectacle'. Now, he's determined to create a more inclusive alternative. On May 13, the gardener and activist caused a social media storm after announcing his step down from his Royal Horticultural Society role as Ambassador for Young People and Communities the night before the show was set to commence. As ambassador, he was tasked with engaging a wider, younger audience into the world of horticulture. But he told Instagram users that he had been 'naive' to think he could bring about change in an institution that wasn't prepared to 'truly share space.' Now, Tayshan is determined to continue making green spaces and gardens more accessible for young people and wider communities. Only, he wants to do it on his own terms, through his organisation Grow to Know. Speaking to The Mirror, Tayshan said that he believes RHS' show still holds importance and meaning – but it needs to prioritise its wider audience. He tells us: 'The magic of Chelsea Flower Show is undeniable – it can be an amazing showcase of design excellence, but it is, for most part, extremely aspirational, out of touch and inaccessible.' Tickets for this year's Chelsea Flower Show cost RHS members £115.85 to £121.85. Meanwhile, tickets for the general public were priced at £111.85 to £137.85. This is only emphasised by the extreme cost of production. Tayshan reveals: 'From being on the inside, I was exposed to realities the public rarely sees. It can cost up to and beyond £750,000 to stage a single show garden. With ten to fifteen major show gardens each year, you're looking at several million pounds spent on temporary installations that last just five days.' He also takes issue with the show's environmental impact. 'The carbon footprint is equally eye-watering,' he says. He describes 'careless water consumption' used to keep plants alive in the lead-up and during the show, as well as 'the staggering waste, both material and financial' that is produced, despite efforts to recycle. On their website, the RHS state that they have implemented several sustainability measures over recent years, and they are working to provide better waste separation at their shows. They are also hoping to reduce their total on-site waste by 5% through a focus on reuse and recycling. Tayshan says that since stepping down, RHS employees, including people who have built gardens at Chelsea Flower Show, have shared similar experiences and frustrations engaging with the RHS. 'They've told me that my decision, as someone who was up close and personal with the RHS, has created space for them to support and speak up too,' Tayshan says. 'We are now going on to do the work we hoped to do with them – but we're doing it without them.' He reveals that Grow to Know is launching Closing the Green Gap, which he describes as an initiative to deliver 'permanent, purposeful, community-driven gardens every single year' in North Kensington – the same borough as the Chelsea Flower Show. He explains that Grow to Know are starting a fundraiser in June for their first project, which will take place in the Lancaster Youth Club, Ladbroke Grove, and where Tayshan plans to transform a concrete car park into 'a vibrant, youth-led garden.' Ultimately, Tayshan plans for Closing the Green Gap gardens to be celebrated annually on the same week as Chelsea Flower Show. He adds, '[It will be] an alternative to what we believe the world of horticulture could offer to communities, young people and the wider nation.' The RHS has told The Mirror: 'The RHS supported Grow to Know on a project in the North Kensington borough by providing direct funding towards a community garden (£30,000). We also hosted and funded a fundraising event for the same community garden, asked local RHS members to support the project, and took part in a community engagement event with planting activities. 'The RHS delivers one of the biggest national community gardening initiatives, investing millions in school gardening, community outreach and grass roots projects around the whole country. We have a major partnership with the NHS delivering community wellbeing gardens and a partnership with the Natural History Museum supported by Department of Education to bring nature to schools across England. 'All gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show live on to be community green spaces in places like hospitals and schools around the UK. The world-famous event also raises vital funds for the RHS to do community outreach as part of its national programme of community work.' They added: 'We also support access to our 5 RHS Gardens through the £1 universal and pension credit access and welcome thousands of school groups to our learning centres at these locations.'
Daily Mirror
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Chelsea Flower Show chaos as RHS ambassador famed for guerrilla gardening quits
Gardener and social activist Tayshan Hayden-Smith has quit his role as RHS ambassador over its Chelsea Flower Show with claims he was made to feel 'uncomfortable' over its lack of inclusivity Social activist and gardener Tayshan Hayden-Smith has left his role at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) after claiming its annual Chelsea Flower Show celebrates 'exclusivity over equity'. The RHS asked the 28-year-old to become the charity's Ambassador for Young People and Communities in 2022. His role was meant to engage a wider, younger audience into the world of nature and gardening. However, he now says he was 'naïve' to believe that he could bring about change. In a statement posted to Instagram on May 13, the eve of the Chelsea flower show, Hayden-Smith wrote: 'I entered this role well intentioned and optimistic. On reflection, I now see that I was also naïve… I hoped that my presence might help open doors for communities that have long been marginalised in the world of horticulture.' He continued: 'What I've come to learn is that representation without redistribution – of power, resources or decision-making – is not justice. And working within institutions that aren't prepared to listen, adapt or truly share space only goes so far.' He also criticised the Chelsea Flower Show, an annual event endowed with prestige which attracts 145,000 visitors every year – including The Royal Family. Describing the amount of air pollution created from the trucks and lorries driving up to the event, he said: 'Year after year it sets a precedent that celebrates spectacle over sustainability, exclusivity over equity.' Hayden-Smith's journey into gardening began in the aftermath of the Grenfell Fire in 2017, in which 72 people were killed. To help process the traumatic event he turned to a small plot of green space, which he grew into the Grenfell Green Garden. Off the back of its success, he started a non-profit organisation, Grow2Know. The aim was to empower young and disadvantaged people through 'guerrilla gardening', which involved reclaiming the city's unused green spaces. In 2022, Hayden-Smith was offered the chance to exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show. However, since starting his role as ambassador, he expressed that he was met with resistance, and even made to feel uncomfortable, at his attempts to open the Chelsea Flower Show up to a broader audience. Hayden-Smith told The Guardian: 'There's many different layers of discomfort that I felt in the three years as an ambassador at the RHS. No one wants to feel like an annoyance or a nuisance under the guise of trying to do something positive.' He also said that he felt that there was a need within the RHS to keep the flower show as it was. Hayden-Smith claimed that the Chelsea Flower Show had become "quite self-serving". Under his Instagram post, many commenters came to show their support, including Sue Kent, an RHS ambassador for disabilities. She wrote: 'We were made RHS ambassadors together and I will miss you. I understand your frustration and disappointment, I respect your integrity. I have drafted recommendations for accessibility and ideas for reducing Chelsea's carbon footprint and embracing technology but my words disappear into the ether." She added: 'A big ship takes a long time to turn in the water, I've taken the long view for the moment.' Hayden-Smith responded, thanking Sue for her words. He also added: 'To be honest with you, I have had quite an uncomfortable few years during my tenure as ambassador - to the point where I've had to think about my own mental health and wellbeing as a result. I have lost all faith and hope in the RHS's intention to actually take purposeful action, that resonates with me…' The RHS told The Mirror: 'The RHS supported Grow to Know on a project in the North Kensington borough by providing direct funding towards a community garden (£30,000). We also hosted and funded a fundraising event for the same community garden, asked local RHS members to support the project, and took part in a community engagement event with planting activities. 'The RHS delivers one of the biggest national community gardening initiatives, investing millions in school gardening, community outreach and grass roots projects around the whole country. We have a major partnership with the NHS delivering community wellbeing gardens and a partnership with the Natural History Museum supported by Department of Education to bring nature to schools across England. In regards to Hayden-Smith's resignation statement, they added: 'All gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show live on to be community green spaces in places like hospitals and schools around the UK. The world-famous event also raises vital funds for the RHS to do community outreach as part of its national programme of community work.'
National Geographic
18-03-2025
- Sport
- National Geographic
After a local disaster, Tayshan Hayden-Smith helps neighborhoods rebuild—with plants
When Tayshan Hayden-Smith was growing up with his three siblings in London public housing, he dreamed of playing for Arsenal, the famous football club, and the family's small garden became his pitch. He honed his skills dribbling between his mother's rosebushes and lavender plants, his shots careening off her avocado tree. 'It was like the garden versus football,' he recalls. For a time, in the backyard and in his heart, football reigned supreme, and by the time he was 20, he was playing professionally in Austria. Then, on a June evening in 2017, he got a text from his sister: a picture of Grenfell Tower, the housing project across the street from their home, consumed by flames. Seventy-two people would lose their lives due to the blaze, Britain's worst residential fire since World War II. 'All my friends were in Grenfell Tower and the surrounding area,' he says. 'That was the moment I decided that I wasn't going to extend my contract and I needed to be at home.' When Hayden-Smith moved back to London, he sought to bring solace to his old neighborhood, North Kensington, and found inspiration in his mother's garden. An elevated highway known as the Westway runs through the community, and underneath it, in an area where street artists mingled with people seeking shelter, Hayden-Smith found a trash-strewn patch of soil. He and his partner began cleaning and planting it, and others joined in. 'It was a ready-to-go kind of garden,' he says. 'Just a blank canvas of a space with soil.' Local nurseries contributed plants—loads of geraniums and even a few palm trees. One resident decided to grow yams. For a neighborhood reeling from devastation, the little plot of land beneath the highway became a symbol of regrowth. Hayden-Smith and his friends named it the Grenfell Garden of Peace.
