Welcome to your new look Friends magazine
Inside you’ll still find all the regular features and information on forthcoming events and courses that you tell us are important to you. Each issue will include news about what’s happening at
Westonbirt, and some features, such as the family section, have been given a fresh, new look.
Westonbirt’s dendrologist, Dan Crowley, writes about seasonal highlights around the arboretum in autumn. These are now presented in a handy pull-out section for you to bring with you on your next visit, with an improved map.
As well as being one of your go-to sources of information for all things Westonbirt, we will also be including articles on other gardens, botanic collections and places of interest that we have a connection with across the UK and further afield. In this issue, Catherine our Supporter Engagement Manager writes about her recent visit to nearby Batsford Arboretum, one of our reciprocal gardens.
We’ve also included our Annual Review in this issue, giving you an overview of our income and expenditure in 2016, some of our key achievements and what our plans are going forward. Your membership subscriptions mean we can provide significant financial support to the arboretum. The review provides you with information on the impact this has had in the last year. Thank you for your continued support, we couldn’t do it without you.
This is your magazine, and we work really hard to make it as useful and enjoyable as we can. We’d love to hear what you think. Please get in touch with us on
magazine@fowa.org.uk with your feedback.
Including more…
With many things in life it can seem that the more you do the more you realise there is to do.
Since 2014 we have been working with youth and adult groups, who would otherwise be
excluded from experiencing the arboretum, as part of our Westonbirt Project, funded through the Heritage Lotery Fund (HLF) and the Friends. Like much of our work here it has only been possible with the tremendous support of our enthusiastic volunteers. It has had a profound impact on many of those involved and as a result we have been keen to continue this work.
I’m delighted that the Friends are now able to assist in funding this work long-term thanks to their improved revenues from increased membership. We have now appointed our existing Community Officer into a permanent role. From January 2018 (the end of the HLF project) Karen will become our Community Coordinator; helping us to develop targeted, positive experiences that utilise the therapeutic benefits of Westonbirt’s remarkable assets.
Part of our future work will be focused on looking at the many small things we can do to make Westonbirt more inclusive for members and visitors. I commited at the Friends’ AGM in May to pilot a form of internal transport to enable those with limited mobility to get from the Welcome Building to the restaurant. I’m pleased to say that a new pilot will start this autumn (see page 6 for further information); I hope some of you will be inspired to become volunteer drivers.
Anna-Clare Temple Chief Excecutive
4 WESTONBIRT AUTUMN 2017
Andrew Smith Arboretum Director
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