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The Great British Sewing Bee presenter Patrick Grant has been named as a special guest for this year’s Southport Flower Show.
The popular event returns to Victoria Park from August 15-18 with a packed itinerary of guests, exhibitions and displays. Fashion expert Patrick will attend the show on Friday, August 16.
Best known for his work on the BBC series, his career in fashion has spanned almost two decades.In that time he has rebuilt the Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons, been named Menswear Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards and built the most successful designer collaboration in Debenham’s history with Hammond & Co.
He has also worked with some of the world’s best known brands including Cartier, Rolls Royce, Lotus, BMW, Mercedes, The Macallan, Chivas Regal, Barbour, Christian Louboutin, John Lobb and Alexander McQueen. Combining a love of craftsmanship, history and storytelling Patrick knows what it takes to build successful passion brands.
Alan Adams, General Manager, said “We are big fans of The Great British Sewing Bee and we know that our visitors will love listening to Patrick’s story in the Garden Theatre on Friday 16th August at 1pm. Patrick completes our 100th anniversary special guest line-up. We are planning a great show this year, help us celebrate”.
Patrick is an outspoken advocate for radical change in the fashion and clothing industry moving beyond sustainable to circular and regenerative. His campaigning clothes brand Community Clothing supports local clothing and textile manufacturers across the UK.
In 2015, he bought the ailing Blackburn clothing manufacturer Cookson & Clegg, saving the factory from closure. This got him thinking about the fate of the many other great UK textile and garment makers, many of which he knew well, and how to secure their future and the future prosperity of the communities that those businesses support.
The result of this thinking was Community Clothing which was launched in 2016 and has since earned him widespread praise from all corners, including across the political spectrum. He has written on diverse subjects for many titles including The Financial Times, The Times and GQ. His first book, Original Man, was published in 2014, and he is currently writing two more.
Patrick has a degree in Materials Science from Leeds and an MBA from Oxford. He has an honorary Doctorate from Heriot Watt, an honorary Fellowship from UCLan, is an honorary Professor at Glasgow Caledonian, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2018 he gave a Ted Talk about the thinking behind Community Clothing. He is an ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation, a charity which supports education activities for people of all ages across the UK.
Southport Flower Show, sponsored by The Seventy Ninth Group, is the UK’s largest independent flower show and attracts over 55,000 visitors across 4 days. Visitors to this year’s show can enjoy inspirational show gardens, spectacular floral displays, gardening advice, show jumping, pop-up shopping village, cookery demonstrations, live music, arena entertainment and much more.
Opening this year’s show is BBC Broadcaster, TV personality, DJ and Southport’s own Adele Roberts on Thursday 15th at 11am in the Garden Theatre. She will join other celebrities including TV Presenter Michaela Strachan who is also attending the opening day.
Celebrity guests include David Domoney, from Love Your Garden and resident gardener on ITV1’s This Morning and also Adam Frost from BBC Gardeners’ World.
Carole Baxter and George Anderson, who present the long-running BBC Two show Beechgrove Garden, will also be sharing their tips on growing beautiful flowers and plants in a Northern climate.
Southport also welcomes the UK’s leading young garden expert – Lee Connelly, who is well known to viewers of CBBC and Blue Peter as the Skinny Jean Gardener. The centenary event sees the return of Children’s TV favourite Justin Fletcher, who has entertained an entire generation of kids with his hit shows including Justin’s House and Something Special on CBeebies. The show will also see the return of Janette Manrara and Aljaž Skorjanec from Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday 17th due to their popularity at the show in 2022.
Every day of the show there is a programme of family entertainment in the arena including live music, show jumping with champion Geoff Billington and performances by the West Lancs Dog display team, birds of prey, plus the chance to browse through everything you could want for your home and garden in the Shopping Village.
In the demonstration kitchen, guests can savour live master classes by chef Matt Tebbutt, from the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Simmon Rimmer from Sunday Brunch, Nisha Katona MBE, founder of Mowgli and Phil Vickery from ITV’s This Morning. There will also be a special 100th anniversary dessert to sample, designed by Southport baker Jemma Melvin, who created the Platinum Pudding, the official dish for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
Early bird tickets are available until Wednesday 14th August. Tickets are flexible and can be used on any one of the show days. Children under 16 go free with a paying adult. Well behaved dogs are allowed on leads.
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