Designer Helen Elks-Smith’s Reflecting Photonics won a Gold medal and the People’s Choice Award at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) show at Tatton Park. The garden was inspired by the International Year of Light and the fibre optics work being carried out at University of Southampton. An outreach team of post-graduate students from Southampton took part in the event and spoke to over 2,000 people, handing out information on the garden and fibre optics research at Southampton.
Pearl John, Southampton’s SEPnet Outreach Officer and Public Engagement team leader for Physics and Astronomy, who has been working on the project said, “I’m very glad that the enthusiastic response we’ve had from people visiting the garden and talking to our outreach team. Having our outreach team there really helped the garden win the People’s Choice Award for Best Garden.”
The International Year of Light themed garden was also featured in a special BBC programme on the RHS Tatton Show, which can be seen here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b063jx7p .