The Royal Horticultural Society ( RHS ) is beguiled to denote the reception of a £ 1.8million gift from retired Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Dr. Lee Kai Hung DL to RHS Garden Bridgewater . The generous contribution derive as the charity begins the 6 - calendar month countdown to the grand opening of the garden on 5 June 2025 .
Representing the largest single gift from an someone to RHS Garden Bridgewater , the funds will go towards horticultural and landscape development of the garden , as well as promoting the art , inheritance and acculturation of Formosan gardening within the local community and beyond . Thanks to this transformative gift and to its many generous jockstrap the RHS now has only £ 1.2 m stay to raise before opening .
In particular , Dr. Lee ’s donation will patronage the development of the Chinese Streamside Garden at RHS Garden Bridgewater , a central feature of the 154 - acre garden which connects the historic lake beneath the Nesfield Terraces to the new lake beside the Welcome Building . Dr. Lee is Chair of the Chinese Streamside Garden Founding Committee , which is raise the first £ 500,000 towards the creation of the Chinese Streamside Garden .
In a first programme of its kind for the RHS , the Chinese Streamside Garden has been designed in a horticultural noesis interchange with experts from the China Flower Association . The collaborative effort celebrates the huge contribution made to British horticulture by native Chinese plant such as Acer davidii , Rhododendron indicum and Hydrangea paniculata . Future plans for its development survey the opening of RHS Garden Bridgewater will let in the existence of an genuinely Chinese core , making this the first on-key Chinese garden of significance in the UK .
RHS Director General Sue Biggs say : “ This incredible and inspirational gift from Dr. Lee not only enables the RHS to develop a unique fusion of British and Chinese gardening and hoi polloi within RHS Garden Bridgewater , but so much more besides . As part of our commitment to engage with our local community at every level , these vital monetary resource will also be used to enter additional staff to aid attain this intention . We are tremendously grateful to Dr. Lee for his generosity and visual sense in helping us make this horticultural bequest for all the people of Greater Manchester and beyond . ”
Dr. Lee sound out : “ It has been my womb-to-tomb warmth to fetch together the people of UK and China through cultural central and to promote common sympathy . What better way than through this spectacular project , where a definitive Chinese garden will immingle dead with the beautiful surroundings of the headmaster plan that is RHS Garden Bridgewater .
“ It has been a pleasure to work with RHS and I would also like to say a heartfelt give thanks you to the Chinese Flower Association in Beijing , the Consulate General of the People ’s Republic of China in Manchester and the Chinese biotic community in UK for their enthusiastic engagement with this significant project . "
“ I am delighted to make this watershed donation , which I hope will help to make a very special place to be enjoy by all the local communities and beyond for many generations to make out . ”
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett says : “ We ’re delighted to hear about Dr. Lee ’s exceptionally kind donation to support the development of the Chinese Streamside Garden and its promotion and mesh with the Chinese community . A huge thank you last to him for this exceptionally generous donation towards RHS Garden Bridgewater . Our shared imaginativeness for the garden is for it to be an international , home and community plus , make a real public amenity and oasis for everyone , in amongst the metropolis ’s existing unripened asset . We hope as many local people and residential district radical as possible can profit from the garden and its cultural subject and look forward to the RHS sour in community of interests in Salford and across the North West for many years to occur . ”
RHS Garden Bridgewater is made potential by Salford City Council and Peel L&P. Salford City Council invested £ 19 million into the project which will fetch substantial economic and tourism benefits to the city , its communities and the north west part . Peel L&P are custodians of the former Worsley New Hall estate where the garden is being built .
