Patron

HRH

The Prince of Wales

Autumn 2007

 

Web site:

www.kewatch.co.uk

 

Charity no. 1044931

From our Chairman, Sir Ron Cooke.

Since I first became involved with the arboretum, at the turn of the century, it seems to me, there has been a fundamental change in public attitudes towards trees. In the past trees have always been of interest but they are increasingly seen as an indispensable ingredient in the responses we can make to reduce our ‘carbon footprint’ and to ameliorate climate change. Arboreta like ours have a vital role to play in promoting this change to public attitudes. The arboretum is much more

Visit by new Director of Kew

In August we were delighted to welcome Professor Stephen Hopper on his first visit to the Arboretum .

Professor Hopper took up his post as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2006. Previously he was the Foundation Professor of Plant Conservation Biology at the University of Western Australia and before that Director of Kings Park and Botanic Garden, Perth.

Professor Hopper has an impressive reputation and broad experience in plant science and plant conservation. He is the author of more than 200 publications, including eight books. He is a passionate conservation biologist and has been engaged in practical plant conservation for almost 30 years.

than a delightful, safe place to enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside, as a good place to walk the children, the dogs, or both. It is also a rare location where trees can be saved, where species can be protected and it is where everyone can easily compare species, study them and enjoy their great variety. Increasingly people see the arboretum as a place where they can invest personally in our environmental future.

We have recently received a number of generous benefactions from people who love trees and who seek to ensure trees are planted and cared for. Such benefactors are massively important for our future and we are most grateful to them.

So one of the wettest summers on record has not deterred our membership which continues to grow and it has certainly encouraged our trees!

After the successful completion and the official opening of the John Simmons Visitor and Education Centre, our new café, under the management of Dorianne Butler, is becoming increasingly popular with its reputation for excellent locally sourced food. At the same time we have begun our education programme, directed by Alan Suggett and led by Katherine Forsey, already we are beginning to attract school parties and parents with children on a range of educational activities. The new centre has also enabled us to host events; societies, clubs, professional groups and private parties can all book and use the centre for private events and enjoy the very special ambience of our extensive grounds.

All these amenities help to support our recurrent income which we are able to direct towards our main activity: the nurturing of trees. The management of the trees needs to be carefully planned and we are now preparing master plans for both the arboretum and Ray Wood. To this end John Simmons (happily continuing as our consultant curator) Arabella Lennox-Boyd, one of our trustees and Tony Kirkham of Kew and others are generously advising Chris Edwards and Neil Batty in this task, which we hope will lay the foundations for both short and long term management arrangements. We have quite a backlog of work which we hope to reduce soon so that we secure our future and can take such initiatives as new plantings, new information guides, new labelling, new seating, new walks and so on.

I have said before that the arboretum is only sustainable because of the help from our small army of volunteers. We rely on them and our only two full time staff, Neil Batty and Ken Cherry, and the part time staff Maurag Carmichael, Chris Edwards, and Joyce and Harry Kingman for an array of horticultural and other activities (from grass cutting to running the visitor centre, promoting the arboretum to external groups and supporting our education programme). Kathryn is presently looking for volunteer explainers to assist with school visits. Do you know anyone who might be interested ? We provide a short induction programme. I am also beginning to wonder if we could organise a North of England Woodland Festival, to match that at Kew, but first I need an experienced project manager!

Ron Cooke

Chairman