From my chair
The Surrey Hills Symposium took place last week and highlighted the work undertaken by the Surrey Hills National Landscape (previously the AONB) to enable access for all. Thriving with Nature was the theme for the hugely inspirational talks and discussion. Do visit their website to enjoy some of the highlights. What a quintessential context in which to ponder the photographs and stories of just a handful of the 40 school projects the SGT Schools Awards have supported this year. At our AGM, members of the SGT community of volunteers will provide a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, not only in the Schools Committee but also Gateway, Events and the Research & Recording group. We often celebrate the results of our work and want to recognise the benefits we all gain from being part of the both the journey and this community. Our common interests in protecting and enjoying our historic landscape heritage and also in making a difference by engaging children and those living with disability with nature, helps us all thrive.
p.s. I am sitting in the garden of Iford Manor on a very hot summer’s day - happy memories.
Our schools awards in action
Wendy Craft, Chair of our Schools Committee, has been sharing through our Instagram @surreygardenstrust, her fascinating feedback as she visits schools that have received a SGT Schools Award. For those of you who are not (yet) following us, here are some of her photographs and accompanying commentary.
The photograph above was taken by Wendy when she visited Prior Heath Infant School.
Prior Heath Infant School is a two form entry Infant school situated in Camberley. Surrey Gardens Trust awarded the school £90 towards the creation of a sensory garden.
The school feels it is important that the garden can be enjoyed by all the children at different times of the school day. The garden offers a relaxing and interesting area and covers all five senses. It includes plants in different colours, scents and textures. Some of the plants are edible and can be used during cookery lessons. Pebbles, slate and bark in different colours and textures make different sounds when walked upon. There are also metal and bamboo chimes which make different sounds and are fun to watch.
All the children will be encouraged to use the garden and will benefit in a variety of ways. At playtimes it becomes a quiet relaxation area where children can read books. Nurturing and social skills clubs use it to encourage listening, speech and language. Also, for Special Needs children it becomes a calming and relaxing retreat.
The Year 2 gardening club children will take responsibility for watering, weeding and general maintenance of the garden during their lunchtime club.
The garden is linked to the curriculum in a variety of areas. Growing plants in science, writing about the garden in Literacy, sketching in Art and measurement in Maths.
The photographs in this gallery were taken by Wendy on her visit to Frimley Church of England School.
Frimley Church of England school is a Junior school situated in Frimley Green Camberley.
It has extensive grounds which include a mature wildlife pond, a large vegetable plot, many trees, hedges, a willow dome, window boxes and planters, a woodland garden and a well being area. Originally, a contractor was employed to build the pond and make the allotment beds.
The school is fortunate enough to have a paid gardener, Trish Everett, who maintains the gardens and borders at weekends and during the school holidays. She also works voluntarily one day a week with the children. With help from her husband and other volunteers they have created a stunning environment for the benefit of all the children in the school. Trish has regularly applied for a grant from Surrey Gardens Trust and has used the money for many projects over the years.
This year the grant of £60, has purchased sensory plants for a raised bed near the Nurture Pod. The intention is for the children to make stepping- stones that lead to the area and become part of the well-being journey.
SGT Small grants awards
We are delighted to have had the opportunity to provide Small Grants through our scheme to two wonderful organisations both of which are working hard to ensure access to all is achieved through active participation in gardening projects and the open access and enjoyment of historic landscapes.
The Therapy Garden
The Therapy Garden in Normandy, Guildford, has been open since 1998 providing a tranquil garden space with a breadth of programmes working with children, young people and adults who are facing challenges in life, including learning difficulties, mental health and behavioural problems. The Garden is a safe a supportive environment, where those working believe in the power of gardening to promote healing and independence.
The project to which we have contributed is an extensive clearing, drainage and restoration exercise to create a new usable and sustainable composting area which in turn frees up an area of the garden close to the main buildings. After extensive fund raising, The Therapy Garden were £3,538.00 short of their target. We were able to grant £1750.00 and, keen to help them reach their goal, we approached The Wisley Foundation to see whether they might consider matching our donation and we are delighted that this has been confirmed.
We will be arranging a visit to The Therapy Garden next year. In the meantime do visit www.thetherapygarden.org to read more about the wonderful work this educational charity undertakes.
West horsley place Trust
We are also delighted to be making a Small Grant contribution of £1750.00 towards a Seeing Differently project which will create a new sensory garden further restoring the historic landscape at West Horsley Place . The black and white photograph ©Country Life, shows the chosen part of the garden in all its previous glory and in contrast the area today.
West Horsley Place Trust (the Trust) is working with a group who are blind or partially sighted to co produce a multi sensory heritage experience, namely the sensory garden and a woodland trail. Through the project, the participants will also participate in designing accessible interpretation and will learn about heritage while simultaneously making heritage more accessible to people with visual impairments.
Once completed, the garden will be open for visitors to West Horsley Place to enjoy free when the Manor House and gardens are open, bringing the well being benefits to all visitors.
In addition to the sensory garden, the Seeing Differently project will include training for key volunteers in visual awareness and audio description to enable the Trust to better welcome blind and partially sighted guests to West Horsley Place and the development of an access panel who will consult more broadly on access across the Trust.
Our grant will go towards the cost of a facilitator to engage the access group in the design of the garden and towards the cost of the garden build including plants and landscaping. Members of the SGT are also providing landscaping and design advice to the Trust’s team.
You can find out more about the work of the Foundation here.
🎄Christmas Lecture and Lunch … and AGM 🎄
Many of you have already signed up for our in person AGM, Christmas Lecture and Lunch. The cut off is this Friday, 2nd December for the Lecture and Lunch booking for catering purposes so please don’t hesitate if you have still to decide.
We have a very interesting speaker joining us. Kevin Martin, who as Head of Tree Collections at Kew is charged with the curation and management of the Royal Botanic Gardens immense tree collection for scientific research and conservation within a historical landscape.
In addition, as mentioned, our volunteers will be showcasing their work giving everyone a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.
Two new sgt Trustees
At our AGM in December we will be inviting two new trustees for election, Lisa Creaye-Griffin and Helen Parvin, photographed below respectively, and we asked them to introduce themselves and tell us about their interest in and passion for the historic environment.
Lisa Creaye-Griffin
Professionally I am a land manager, a member of the Landscape Institute and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. I worked for over 25 years in the public sector and now work part time advising on land management plans with a particular reference to multi use green spaces providing an opportunity for nature to expand and people to enjoy.
Outside work I enjoy visiting historic sites, the houses, the parks and gardens and then filling in the background by reading about the people who lived and worked there. Along with geography, history was always my great love at school and still is.
I now want to spread my love for the countryside and greenspace, natural and built, to the next generations to ensure they are loved and enjoyed in the future.
I am member of Country Land and Business Association (CLA) having just completed 3 years as the Chairman of the Surrey Committee and just been appointed to one of the National Committees.
I am also the part time Director of the Surrey Nature Partnership and chair the Surrey Parks and Countryside Forum.
I have been a member of Surrey Gardens Trust for longer than I can remember and hope to be useful in developing the Trust for the future with members of the Council.
Helen Parvin
For most of my working life I have been involved with buildings, both historic and newbuild, tendering and management of facilities management contracts, selling off-plan housing developments in the Far East, conserving and restoring historic buildings and project managing conservation of several historic sites.
I have always loved rocks and treasured that my Grammar School education gave me the opportunity to gain an extra ‘O’ level in Geology. My appreciation of a soil horizon led me to a need to ‘feel the stuff through her fingers’, which gardeners can relate to, but in this instance it was the very soil itself as a building material which drove me on to develop my expertise in lime mortars and historic plasters. My passion for understanding and repairing historic buildings was underpinned by graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Heritage Conservation.
It was the settings of these historic buildings which allowed me to further my interest in garden archaeology, gardening in general and visiting many sites with historic gardens, parkland and landscapes. During the pandemic period I have strengthened my knowledge of the historic development of gardens by engaging with many series of Garden History lectures offered by The Gardens Trust on Zoom.
I joined Surrey Gardens Trust in 2008 ostensibly to help research and recording of Surrey’s historic landscapes and gardens and thence to place them on the Historic Environment Record. In latter years I have helped arrange many garden visits for SGT. I also belongs to Berkshire Gardens Trust where I comment on planning applications for RPGs as a statutory consultee. My membership of Hampshire Gardens Trust was useful for garden owners when advising on development planning in my role as Historic Environment Officer for Winchester City Council.
Winter lecture programme announced
The three images above give a taster of the breadth of our Winter Lectures 2023.
In January, Nigel Dunnett will be Looking Forwards in Heritage Landscapes: Sustainable planting for People, Climate and Biodiversity. The Barbican (photographed) is one of the landscapes featured. Nigel Dunnett is Professor of Planting Design and Urban Horticulture in the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield, and is a pioneer to new ecological and sustainable approaches to gardens, landscapes and public space.
Deborah Trentham will be talking to us in February about Beatrix Farrand: The Gilded Age to Modernism. We often refer to Beatrix Farrand as the creator of the Reed Point Collection into which the Jekyll papers were safely collected and subsequently preserved (she is photographed sitting in her Reef Point library). This talk will give an overview of Farrand as an innovative designer with an incredible horticultural knowledge. We will look at the recent re-evaluation of her work examining her ecological ideologies.
Deborah Trentham is currently writing a book of Botanic Gardens of the World for Quercus Books. She lectures for Imperial College London and The Gardens Historians, takes garden tours for the Garden Historians and Academy Travel.
Kathryn Bradley - Hole will complete the series in March with her insight, as author of English Gardens from the Archives of Country Life, on a range of gardens as presented in Country Life in the 21st century, with references to the earlier archive. How far do the influential 19th and 20th century gardens affect how we garden in the present day? What makes an 'English garden' recognisably English?
Kathryn Bradley-Hole is a lifelong gardener and inveterate traveller and was for 18 years the Gardens editor pf Country Life magazine. She is the author of numerous books.
To book your place and put the dates in your diary follow the link below. A huge than you goes to our Events team for once again putting together such fascinating programme of lectures.