Dear Friend
Friends’ Events
Happy New Year! In this edition you will find booking forms which detail the exciting tours, events and outings organised for Friends and Guests during the spring and early summer 2012, with the first event on Tuesday 7 February. Places for all activities are limited so early booking is recommended. Please remember to enclose a stamped addressed envelope with your form and payment. We are delighted to announce that the Garden Café is once again able to provide refreshments for those taking part in Friends’ garden tours. Whether you fancy a warm drink and delicious cake or a light lunch, these can be pre-booked by using the enclosed application form. Your confirmation will include a voucher to be presented at the café after your tour. Please indicate on the booking form if you have particular dietary requirements. Should you need to cancel a booking please note the refund policy (details on the booking form). I am delighted to report that the Friends Annual lecture held in November 2011 and given by Dr Beverley Glover from the Department of Plant Sciences was an outstanding success. A whirlwind visit to the world of petal diversity, bee behaviour and an intriguing insight into research at the University was followed by animated
conversation over drinks and nibbles in the Old Library at Emmanuel College. The 2012 Annual lecture will be given by Professor Ottoline Leyser, Associate Director of the Sainsbury Laboratory. Elsewhere in the newsletter you will see details about celebration drinks planned for the 30th anniversary of the Friends of the Botanic Garden in May – I do hope many of you will be able to come and help mark this wonderful achievement. More events will follow during the year. Finally, a reminder that the subscription rate for Friends’ membership will increase from 1 March 2012. Annual Joint membership will be £55 and annual single membership £32. Details can be found in the Friends September 2011 News and on the website, www.botanic.cam.ac.uk Thank you very much for your continued support. Wishing you a peaceful 2012.
Emma Daintrey Outreach Administrator 01223 336271 friends@botanic.cam.ac.uk
Nigel Luckhurst
Meet the Volunteer Committee L-R Elisabeth Rushden, Richard Price, Pam Newman, Emma Daintrey (Outreach Administrator) and Jenny Leggatt Jenny Leggatt is a journalist and author of four books including a cook book about edible flowers. When not planning and researching the tours and outings for the Friends, she is a passionate gardener, running a large allotment and garden. Pam Newman has had a life-long passion for plants. After a degree in Microbiology and a PhD in plant pathology, she worked at the Plant Breeding Institute before becoming Plant Health and Seeds Inspector at MAFF/DEFRA. Now retired, Pam is a Garden Guide, volunteers with the Education Department and teaches yoga.
Richard Price studied Botany at Oxford University and taught for 21 years at secondary schools in Tanzania, London and Cambridge – he used to bring his Biology A level students to visit the Garden in the 1970s. After managing science syllabuses at the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, Richard was recruited to establish and direct Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS), now based at the Garden. Richard is a Garden Guide and works closely with the Education Department on guide training. Elizabeth Rushden has been organising trips and outings for the Friends for the last five years. She is also a trained Garden Guide and has a particular interest in trees. Her background is in language teaching and Elizabeth worked for many years at the Cambridge University Institute for Manufacturing.
Switch to DD If you still pay for your Friends subscription by Banker’s Order (also known as Standing Order), please make it a New Year’s resolution to switch to Direct Debit on the next renewal date, as we are phasing out Banker’s Order payments. Friends’ News – Issue 88 – January 2012
Only the account holder can cancel Banker’s Order payments so please remember to do this when you switch to Direct Debit, or you will be paying twice over for your membership! Thank you for your continuing support.
A booking form with full descriptions, details, times and prices is enclosed. All places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please take care to note the new cancellation and refund policy outlined on the booking form. Winter Trees Tour Explore the special delights of the Garden’s trees in winter: deciduous trees reveal their delicate tracery whilst the Main Walk of majestic evergreens has heightened stature. Tuesday 7 February & Saturday 11 February, 10.30am. The Glasshouse Tour Guides will take small groups through the Glasshouse Range, full of year-round interest from the daintiest alpine to exotic tropical climbers, including, we hope, the Jade Vine. Tuesday 13 March & Saturday 17 March, from 10.30am. ‘The Gardenesque – 19th century garden design to pleasingly educate’ Classroom lecture with Caroline Holmes John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843) coined the term ‘gardenesque’, and urged that grand ideas be decanted into public parks, cemeteries and domestic gardens. Caroline Holmes is a garden historian, lecturer, author and consultant designer her own Suffolk garden featured in the December issue of The English Garden. Thursday 8 March 2012, 7pm for 7.30pm. Fascination of Plants Day Drop in to explore the rich variety of displays and demos put on in collaboration with SAPS and the Department of Plant Sciences. Saturday 18 May, 10am – 4pm Friends 30th Anniversary Party We invite you to join us for 30th anniversary celebration drinks, canapes and music on an early summer evening. Thursday 24 May 2012, 6.30 pm. Day trip to NT Hidcote Manor Garden and Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Glos Created by Lawrence Johnson, Hidcote is full of inspirational herbaceous borders, delightful gazebos and packed with interesting plants – during the 1920s Johnson travelled widely collecting plants for his garden (and exchanging seeds with us, amongst other botanic gardens). Closeby Kiftsgate was created in the 1920s by Heather Muir, on a steep site affording lovely views with wonderful plants, including the famous Kiftsgate rose. Wednesday 13 June 2012 Day trip to the Plant Finders Fair & Cottesbrooke Hall Gardens, Northants This leading Plant Finders Fair of specialist nurseries, and featuring talks and workshops with noted gardeners, is hosted by Cottesbrooke Hall. Its garden was originally laid out by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in an Italian renaissance style, softened in later years with herbaceous planting. Distinguished landscape designers have been involved since, most recently Arne Maynard, who created the new herbaceous plantings for the statue walk. Friday 22 June 2012