Patron

HRH

The Prince of Wales

2006

 

Web site:

www.kewatch.co.uk

 

Charity no. 1044931

We genuinely seek the advice and ideas of our members – do please let us know of your comments and suggestions.

Meanwhile, did you see the Camberwell Beauty?

Have you seen the Kingfishers?

Sir Ron Cooke

Chairman

From our Chairman, Sir Ron Cooke.

 

The last year has seen three momentous events at the arboretum. The most important is that our extremely distinguished Curator, John Simmons OBE VMH, has finally decided to retire. When John came to the arboretum he had just retired from Kew; he planned to stay with us for a couple of years. Ten years later, he feels it is time to retire again, not least because the regular journey from Norfolk has become an increasing strain. John has worked tirelessly on the foundations laid by Jim Russell and has transformed the arboretum into one of the finest and most distinctive in the land. He has brought to the task his clear vision, his incomparable skills and experience and the benefit of his marvellous network of contacts. The arboretum today is a monument to his massive commitment. We are all greatly indebted to him.

John is, of course, impossible to replace. So we have decided to split his role into two! On the vital curatorial side, we have been fortunate in building on our links with Kew by engaging Tony Hall, who runs Kew’s Arboretum. We hope that Tony will collaborate with Neil Batty and the rest of us in developing further our collections.

We have also been fortunate in recruiting Chris Edwards to take on John’s ‘Management’ role – that is, ensuring we create and stick to our budget, overseeing our various groups of activities which are so ably led by Neil, Maurag and others and ensuring we develop and implement our strategy. Chris, who recently retired to Terrington, was formerly Chief Executive of Swale Borough Council.

The second momentous event this year, of course, has been the completion and opening of the new education and visitor centre. When I say ‘completion’ I mean, ‘almost complete’. Thanks to generous Benefactors we have been able to complete the terrace and the loos, and the kitchen will be finished soon. Then we hope to open a new café that will provide what so many of our visitors and members have been asking for – coffee, tea, sandwiches and the like. Do please be sure to visit the café – it’s in all our interests that it is a great success! The café contract will be with one of our members, Dorianne Butler, who many of you will know already. She and her helpers look forward to meeting you.

The building itself is a great success – most people agree that it fits comfortably and appropriately into the wonderful landscape and the dominant theme of English Oak is highly appropriate. We congratulate Tony Oldale, the Architect, on his vision and we thank everyone involved, including the builders, Sanderdales of Strensall and our extremely hardworking volunteers.

The third important development is the implementation of our plans to create an education programme for schools, groups and other visitors. As a result of Professor Alan Suggett’s efforts, our lottery grant has been used to appoint an Education Officer who will develop our programme and train education guides. This work will begin in 2007 and will have as a foundation the brilliant computer-based information system that was financed by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers’. This is the excellent work of Harry Kingman; if you haven’t yet inspected it, do please enjoy yourself next time you visit, just click on the ‘Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers’ logo to see the story of wood from the seed to the furniture. Harry has gone further, developing durable, outdoor descriptive panels that we feel are also a great success.

Finally, our trees. We continue to develop the collection and we are extremely grateful for the many variable donations and specimens, especially from Lord Howick and Kew. Although our efforts over the last year have been focused on the new centre, much has been achieved in the collections and much more is planned. My thanks go especially to Neil Batty who continues to be our tower of strength and who turns his hand so successfully to the numerous demands on his time.