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How your gifts and membership helps

Sue Bradley-Jones, Trustee and Chair of the Grants Committee, reports on where and how money from the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum was spent in the last financial year.

The Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum charity works alongside the Forestry Commission in a formal partnership to support the management of Westonbirt Arboretum.

Since the charity was formed in 1985, £2.5 million raised through membership, legacies and gifts to the charity have been used to maintain and develop Westonbirt Arboretum.

In recent years, as our membership numbers have grown so have our funding opportunities and our capacity to supplement the public finance from the Forestry Commission to help deliver some of the arboretum’s core activities.

A sizeable contribution towards the arboretum’s running costs is now an accepted part of our charitable objective: to care for the tree collection and support the educational and visitor activities associated with it.
 

A year of your support goes a long way…

The Friends make an annual grant to the arboretum, spent to a budget agreed in advance by the Trustees, and managed by the arboretum director, Simon Toomer, and his staff. The amount of the grant is reviewed annually.

In 2010 the grant to the arboretum was £245,000 and was spent as follows:

£50,000 for the Tree Team towards the maintenance of the collection, including:

• The purchase and hire of machinery and equipment
• The salary of the manager of the midweek volunteers
• Contract work on woodland restoration
• Ongoing butterfly survey
• Student bursary position
• Construction of wood chip sterilising facility

 
£71,500 to support the schools programme, educational events and interpretation of the collection, including:

• Salary support for Learning and Participation team staff
• Materials for school visits and family events
• Signage and interpretation
• Seasonal guide leaflets
• Climate change interpretation
• Renovation of the woodland room
• Volunteer training and welfare
• Community outreach

£18,000 for Visitor Services to make the arboretum as accessible and visitor friendly as possible, including:

• Maintenance of scooters and wheelchairs
• Maintenance of the play areas
• Visitor surveys
• First aid provision
 

£12,000 for the Events department towards the organisation of public events, including:

• Enchanted Christmas entertainment
• Silk Wood Barn composting toilet
• Downs maintenance
   

£5,000 for a travel bursary to provide funds for the study and collection of plant material. In 2010 Hugh Angus went to the USA at the invitation of the Oak Society and to Belgium for a meeting of the Maple Society.

The remaining balance of funds is allocated to the Westonbirt Project reserve, from which we have agreed to fund part of the project development costs. See the Westonbirt Project FAQs page for more information on the funding of the project.

In addition, the Friends keep a pot of money to fund one-off projects that are approved on a case-by-case basis. In 2010 the Board used this to fund:

• £9,400 for the new Interactive Map
• £4,800 for disabled access doors for the Forest Shop
• £3,500 for a volunteers' mobility scooter
• £9,000 for volunteers' uniform
• £20,000 towards the new composting facility.

An eye to the future

The Friends’ ongoing financial support provides a vital element of stability and certainty for the arboretum management – it is a lifeline for keeping the National Arboretum in tiptop shape.