I was delighted to achieve the rare gold medal at last year's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show with a conceptual garden based on an Amnesty International campaign for the dowtroddenn, abused women of Nicaragua.
TV coverage of the garden can be seen here:
Thanks to the generosity of local private sponsors, who wish to remain anonymous, we created a real show-stopper with a huge pink cube, representing the imprisoned soul of a Nicraguan women, housing hundreds of stunning tropical butterflies, representing hope. The butterflies were kindly supplied by Butterfly World near St Albans who also contributed volunteers to answer questions about the butterflies, of which the real star for me was the Blue Morpho, a stunning creature with a 6 inch span of wings in shimmering metallic blue.
It was a wonderful honour to receive a gold medal from HRH Princess Michael of Kent. But the real success for me was the positive reaction from women's groups in Nicaragua, some of which are posted below:
"What wonderful news! It is so inspiring to know that the "butterflies of hope" continue to fly and on this occasion in a work so special such as that created by Robert Kennett and the other experts involved. This is fantastic idea which even uses our national flower will continue helping to change attitudes towards women and girls rights and putting a spotlight on our country. Many thanks to Robert Kennett and many thanks to Amnesty International for persisting with this campaign. On our part, you can be sure that we will fighting all the battles necessary here! What a beautiful present it is to hear this news about the garden!" - Martha Munguia, Human Rights Defender
"This is so exciting! Thank you so much for sowing hope in relation to the situation of girls and teenagers in our country." Argentina Espinoza - Human Rights Defender
"Today I welcomed this wonderful news, thanks to all of you at Amnesty International each day thousands more voices join ours in demanding change. I absolutely loved the garden and it gives us inspiration to continue confronting new battles." Juanita Jimenez, human rights defender, Nicaragua
"What great news! In the midst of so much indifference in our country some four years since the legal challenges [sic: demanding the Courts declare the total ban of abortion to be incompatible with the Constitutional provisions protecting women and girls human rights] it gives us courage and hope to know there are people who think differently in the world...Thank you all - I am taking this news [about the garden created by Robert Kennett] as some of the best news I have had in recent times!" Marta Maria Blandon, Human Rights Defender