A FORMER Glasgow Times Scotswoman of the Year is celebrating after the charity she founded won a gold award at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Laura Young, who set up art therapy charity Teapot Trust following the death of her eight-year-old daughter Verity, said: “It is quite a thing to have the charity you founded, at your kitchen table, be taken to RHS Chelsea, becoming part of the national landscape.

“It shows the Teapot Trust is filling a real gap in art therapy needs for children with invisible conditions."

The Elsewhere Garden, designed by Scottish-Swiss firm Semple-Begg, represents a place where a child’s imagination blooms in response to art therapy taking them "elsewhere" away from their illness, helping them express and ultimately overcome their fears.

"The garden is the result of a decade of hard work to really grow the charity and broaden its reach," added Laura. "It is the visible proof that we have always focused on the creative power of the imagination to bring about positive change to children and their families.”

Today, the charity mostly delivers art therapy and art psychotherapy, one-to-one and in small groups, for children struggling to come to terms with a diagnosis or cope with a regime of treatment that has unpleasant side effects.

One in four children and young people in the UK live with the pain and stigma of chronic health conditions that cause anxiety and depression. Almost a third of those aged under 21 who take their own lives have a long-term chronic illness. Teapot Trust has supported 14,000+ young patients around the UK.