{"id":457421,"date":"2026-05-19T23:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457421\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T23:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:15:12","slug":"a-nice-treat-catherine-connolly-greeted-by-irish-gardeners-at-chelsea-flower-show-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457421\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A nice treat\u2019: Catherine Connolly greeted by Irish gardeners at Chelsea Flower Show \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fine drizzle settled on President Catherine Connolly<\/a>\u2019s blue suit at the Chelsea Flower Show<\/a>, on what the Galway<\/a> native described as a \u201csoft day\u201d.<\/p>\n

The occasion certainly felt softer than Monday, the hectic first day of her first official trip as President to Britain, which began with news that her sister Margaret Connolly had been detained<\/a> by Israeli<\/a> forces on a ship bound for Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Later that evening, in the Irish embassy in London, Connolly railed against those \u201cnormalising slaughter\u201d<\/a> in Middle Eastern wars.<\/p>\n

An ability to remain calm under pressure helped Connolly to win last November\u2019s presidential election. <\/p>\n

That poise served her well when, less than 24 hours after declaring herself \u201cupset and worried\u201d over her sister\u2019s plight, she was greeted at the flower show by Keith Weed, the president of the Royal Horticultural Society, who, given his job, surely has one of the most incongruous names in Britain. <\/p>\n

The second day of this official trip was always scheduled to be lower key than the first, when she met British king Charles III, and there was still a clear focus on social and political issues close to Connolly\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

\"IrishIrish president Catherine Connolly (left) speaks with Keith Weed at the Chelsea Flower Show in London on Tuesday. Photograph: James Manning\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

She first visited a garden built for the Trussell Trust, the largest food bank organisation in Britain. She then dropped by another built for those with Parkinson\u2019s disease and seemed particularly intrigued by the curved, polished wooden rails designed to be easy and comforting to grip for those with the neurological disease.<\/p>\n

As she made her way through the Chelsea crowds, the President stopped for pictures and selfies with several Irish people who recognised her. <\/p>\n

\u201cMighty!\u201d said one Irish gardener, as he walked away delighted with his photograph.<\/p>\n

Billy Alexander, of Kells Bay House and Gardens in Co Kerry, a multiple Chelsea gold medal winner, was not exhibiting this year, but he tagged along in the entourage following the President as she walked through the crowds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had the pleasure of meeting queen Elizabeth and king Charles in the past, but it is a nice treat to have our own President here in Chelsea this year,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully she\u2019ll come and see me at the Bloom show, and maybe I\u2019ll get a cup of tea at the Ar\u00e1s.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, Connolly visited the London Irish Centre in Camden, which is preparing for a two-year near-\u00a335 million redevelopment. <\/p>\n

\"ConnollyConnolly (centre) attends a lunch with Rosaleen Blair (right) and members of the board at the London Irish Centre in Camden on Tuesday. Photograph: Yui Mok\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you manage to do it in that timetable, you\u2019ll be an inspiration to builders and local authorities all across Ireland\u201d, she quipped.<\/p>\n

The President had tea and scones with dignitaries including the centre\u2019s chairperson, Rosaleen Blair, chief executive Seamus MacCormaic, Irish ambassador Martin Fraser and his wife Deirdre, who volunteers at the centre. <\/p>\n

On a nearby table was laid out Barry\u2019s tea and Tayto crisps (the Northern kind) \u2013 comforts of home for some of the Irish immigrants to Britain who Connolly saluted in her speech.<\/p>\n

She also thanked the London Irish Centre, with its vast array of outreach programmes and abuse-survivor networks, for doing the essential task of looking after the Irish in need in Britain over many years, at a time when their homeland had \u201clooked away\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not any more \u2013 the State\u2019s Emigrant Support Programme has in recent years donated more than \u20ac265 million to organisations championing Irish diaspora causes abroad.<\/p>\n

Connolly hinted a few times that she would welcome an invite back to the centre for the opening of its revamped building. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just remind you again that I\u2019d be delighted to be here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She was due to have some private meetings at the centre before heading for Leeds on Wednesday, where her official trip concludes after a visit to the city\u2019s Irish centre and Leeds University, her alma mater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fine drizzle settled on President Catherine Connolly\u2019s blue suit at the Chelsea Flower Show, on what the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,3656,74122,4500,3409,61,60,3410,7428],"class_list":["post-457421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-chelsea-flower-show","tag-galway","tag-gaza-strip","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-king-charles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}