Creating Something from Nothing

May 19, 2025 7:46 pm

Hello , my fellow brave human

Do you ever have that feeling of great satisfaction when you have created something out of nothing?

It could be anything, a sandcastle on the beach - or a meal that you’ve had a particular flair with, or a picture, or a garden.

As I write this I’m on my way to the Chelsea Flower Show to work on the Down’s Syndrome Garden for the week.

This is something that has been in the making for over 18 months, and started with a simple email out of the blue from garden designers Duncan Hall and Nick Burton to Down’s Syndrome Scotland CEO Eddie McConnell.

They had decided if they were going to have their first shot at designing for Chelsea, they wanted it to matter.

Inspired by his nephew Liam, Duncan wanted to spotlight the amazingness of people with Down’s syndrome, as well as the challenges they still face in society and lastly to highlight the tremendous support that Downs Syndrome Scotland have given Liam and his family since birth.

And it’s snowballed. What started as a design concept is now a fully fledged garden, teams of people have been inspired and involved, funding successfully provided and the logistics. That has been a thing and a half. They did it!

The outcome is even more stunning than I could have at first imagined.

The magic of their concept has come to life and it will live on.

And I’m on my way to see it - I’m sooo excited.

After this week the garden will be transported back to Scotland, where it will sit in the Palacerigg Country Park near Cumbernauld hosted by Watch US Grow, a charity that helps young people with learning disabilities to learn horticultural skills. It will forever be the Down’s Syndrome Scotland Garden.

Duncan and Nick have created something out of nothing. A concept that has given birth and will now impact and inspire hundreds (if not thousands) of people. I feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet that I’m part of the journey.

That is the magic of creativity and possibility. A golden nugget of a thought that can spark others to join you on your journey.

That’s what makes us human, and I think we forget that sometimes. We all hold a bit of magic in us, no matter how ‘creative’ we think we are or not. It doesn’t have to be something big. If its creative, its magic.

So, this week - what can you create that didn’t exist before?

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Dates for your diary

Talking of creating something out of nothing…

…Carrifran ‘Wildwood’, 14th June

Come and join us at the original wildwood, the bare glen that had its first taste of ‘rewilding’ 25 years ago. Led by Donald McPhillimy (listen to our podcast interview here) - who was part of the first tree planting team in 2000.