The much trailed gala fundraising dinner and auction for the controversial London Garden Bridge Project, held at Harrod’s on Wednesday 9 June, raised a grand total of £257,000 according to figures released on the Garden Bridge Trust’s website [https://www.gardenbridge.london/news/article/harrods-hosts-spectacular-fundraising-gala-in-aid-of-the-garden-bridge-].
In an update to its budgeted figures the trust claims to have a total of £127 million pledged towards the construction of Thomas Heatherwick’s pavement and planters river crossing between Temple Station and the South Bank. That figure appears to include the £60 million pledged from the public purse by Mayor of London and old family friend of bridge champion Joanna Lumley, Boris Johnson MP and the Chancellor George Osborne. However, on its own figures the Garden Bridge Trust still appears to be £48 million short of its target of £175 million.
In the light of that global figure the £257,000 raised at the Harrod’s fundraiser, where guests included Princess Beatrice and Holly Branson, would scarcely cover garden designer Dan Pearson’s budget for bulbs.
