A place of calm where families can come to find solace

Missing People, the charity which helps families of children who have gone missing, has unveiled a flower garden in Chiswick House & Gardens, which they hope will be a place of calm where families can come to find solace.

The garden has been unveiled as part of the charity’s FIND EVERY CHILD Appeal which is aiming to raise funds to enable Missing People to reach out to the 140,000 children who go missing in the UK every year.

The garden, which is located in an area close to the Chiswick House and Gardens conservatory, was unveiled at a special ceremony on Tuesday, with singing by the Missing Persons choir, which includes family members and loved ones of missing young persons.

Choir member Sarah Godwin from Godalming, Surrey, whose son Quentin has been missing since May 1992, said, “When you have a missing child it is so hard to find any moments of peace, or places where you can honour and think about them. The Find Every Child garden is a wonderful way to provide families like mine with a place to remember, while raising awareness of how and why the issue of missing children is so big.

Jo Youle, Chief Executive of the charity Missing People said: “We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has come together to make the Find Every Child garden possible and support our Find Every Child appeal. The designers have produced a beautiful and peaceful space where families experiencing the pain of a missing child can come to reflect and remember and be reassured that there are others who are thinking of their missing loved one too.”

Clare O’Brien Director of Chiswick House & Gardens Trust said, “We hope the missing people garden will be a place of refuge and solace for families and we welcome this beautiful addition to our Grade 1 listed landscape.”

Missing People is the only charity in the UK which is dedicated to bringing the 250,000 children and adults that go missing every year back together with their families. Some missing people you will have heard of, but many more you won’t. For their families, life without them can be a desperate and unbearable struggle.

The charity is available to families 24 hours a day, every day of the year, at the end of a phone, text or email, ready to use every means possible to search for and find their missing loved ones and to provide vital on-going support to families. You can call or text 116 000 for advice, support and options if you, or someone you love, goes missing or runs away - it’s free, 24 hour and confidential.

The garden design was produced voluntarily by Barnes-based Esra Parr (Esra Parr Gardens), and utilises flowering plants which have been carefully selected for their special significance to missing persons and their families.

Gavin Jones Ltd is the incumbent grounds maintenance service provider at Chiswick House which assisted Chiswick House & Gardens Trust’s gardening team and volunteers with creating the first phase of the flower beds for the ‘Find Every Child’ Charity Garden.


May 4, 2017