Make the most of Brian’s blooms as annual fundraiser set for final dates
PLOT INCLUDES TRIBUTES TO HIS LOVED ONES
TUCKED away on a residential road near Swadlincote, fundraising superstar Brian Storer’s garden is a delight to behold.
He has spent decades lovingly tending the plot, which has become a must-see for gardening fans across the Midlands.
So amazing is his work that the garden has raised an incredible £104,000 in the years since he opened it up to the public for charity after losing his beloved wife Helen to cancer.
The couple, who met when they were just 16, were soulmates. Sadly, Helen succumbed to stomach cancer at the age of just 46 in 1994 after a 13-year battle.
Since then Brian has dedicated much of his life to trying to help others, beginning with three people in Linton who desperately needed wheelchairs.
The Helen Storer Cancer Campaign was set up after Helen spent five months in the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham as she battled the disease.
Brian, who won the Fundraiser of the Year award at the Burton Mail Heroes awards in 2018, initially raised £18,000, which he used as a springboard to help projects he saw as worthy. But 2018 was a year filled with tragedy for him – it was when his son Mark died from a heart attack.
Plaques dedicated to his wife and son have pride of place in his garden.
Most of the money he has collected has come from opening up his garden, along with holding coffee mornings.
Every year hundreds of people have come from far and wide to peruse his fuchsia, hanging baskets, vegetables and
Last year I couldn’t do anything as I was in hospital. [This year] will be my last fund-raiser as I am 74 now. Brian Storer
much more. He stands proudly among his hydrangeas and it is no surprise, looking at the floral splendour, that Brian worked as a landscape gardener.
For years, people have been able to witness for themselves what he has created, but now, Brian, 74, is having to call time on raising cash for charity.
We visited his home in Princess Avenue, Linton, ahead of his annual fundraiser. But just hours later he suffered a heart attack and had to have a pacemaker fitted.
He also suffered a heart attack last year and decided this year would be his last open gardens. Now, after his second heart attack, he has decided it is time to scale back his effort.
So this time Brian will instead put his plethora of plants for sale at the front of his house. He said: “Last year I couldn’t do anything because I had had a heart
attack and was in hospital. It will be my last fund-raiser as I am 74 now.
“The garden is full of colour, full of flower and I have installed a £7,000 gin bar.” Looking at the garden, it is not surprising to find out it takes Brian two hours a day to water his plants. Now, though, he can start winding down and enjoy his retirement.
Money from this year’s slightly different open garden will be donated to the children’s ward at Burton’s Queen’s Hospital.
The plant sale will take place at his address at 19 Princess Avenue, Linton, on Saturday and Sunday. While the public can see his garden, Brian will not be on hand like he usually is and must stay indoors.
He will leave plants in his driveway for sale and donations can be made through his letterbox.