January 15th, 2010
Of course, people know about Westonbirt in the autumn and spring, they may even spend long summer days relaxing in the shade beneath some of our majestic trees. It has been a real treat though to see the return of the winter season this year. The Arboretum is looking just like one of those picturesque scenes from a Christmas card at the moment, after the recent cold snap.
The journey here can take a little longer than usual and demand a little more concentration, but once we arrive the view is simply stunning. It is a privilege to work here when the grounds have been dusted with snow. Fortunately we have not suffered any fallen trees or broken branches, I like to think this is because we have a well-managed collection. The Tree Team has shaken the snow from our new plantings, as it can be too heavy for these youngsters and weigh them down. Otherwise plant health care and grounds maintenance carry on regardless, there are always plenty of jobs to do at a National Arboretum.
I would encourage anyone to visit now and experience this winter wonderland for themselves just check the website before setting off, as we have had to close on a couple of days.
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January 14th, 2010
I am delighted to have joined Westonbirt. As the Arboretum’s new Head of Fundraising, this year will see me delve into intensive planning and develop crucial activities to support the Westonbirt Project.
In the last 15 years, my work has taken me from the UK to the USA, I’ve delivered communications and fundraising projects in higher education, worked in business development for a specialist unit of the Financial Times and have completed postgraduate studies at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
It’s an honour to now be able to work in such an inspirational place; inspiring people about our environment and learning about the role of trees in our lives are key aspects which the Westonbirt Project will deliver.
My immediate task to ensure Westonbirt can realise these plans is to secure commitments and pledges of several million pounds, in order to match the Heritage Lottery Funding the Westonbirt Project has already secured.
So, with a well built plan and invaluable support from the ever-increasing Project team, I know 2010 will be busy, but hugely rewarding.
….And a bit from Miranda Winram, our Project Director…
“I’m very pleased to have Andrea on-board. Fundraising is a key element of our work to secure and deliver the future plans for Westonbirt and I’m delighted we were able to appoint Andrea, who brings a wealth of fundraising experience to the role.”
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January 6th, 2010
I know that Roz (our webmeister) won’t be around to upload this blog until after the New Year, but its Christmas Eve and I’ve a choice between a) Finally forcing myself to do 3 months worth of filing, b) Getting to grips with a new financial management system or c) Writing my next blog. Unsurprisingly c) has just won.
This has been the most magical of all possible first Christmases at Westonbirt. Forget all the plastic ‘Winter Wonderland’ experiences out there, forget even (dare I say it…) the very lovely Enchanted Christmas here, the snow has turned Westonbirt into the Real Thing. I’ve been arriving at my desk later and later every morning, as I’ve been held up, entranced, along crisp rides framed with delicate silhouettes and the occasional soft swoosh of powder settling. The ground has crunched happily underfoot, and I’ve appreciated the incredibly strange and stunning patterns that branches and trunks have made against the ground or the sky. The specialness of our trees, their planting and their structures really shouts out when the world is a black and white negative.
And best of all, there’s been no-one else around. I think Westonbirt is more beautiful in the snow than at the height of its autumn colour, but it seems to be the best kept secret around.
It’s been a challenging first few months, but to come to work here, for the last week, has made it all worth while. Not a bad way to close 2009.
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December 21st, 2009
It’s been so cold in our office this week,that you might be forgiven for asking “What does a Climate Change Officer actually do?” Well my role is all about interpretation and communication.
At the moment I’m working on interpretation for several Forestry Commission sites, including Grizedale up in the north of the country and Haldon down in the south in Devon! I’m trying to do lots of the work remotely, as I don’t think it’s a good thing for a Climate Change Officer to be travelling all over the country!
I visited Forest Research at Alice Holt last week to discuss how we can work together more to communicate the findings of their Climate Change Centre. I always find it really interesting going to Alice Holt as it is so different from any of our Forestry Commission sites, and there is so much cutting edge research going on that people just don’t know about. The best thing I think is that when the lunch bell goes, all of the scientists get together in the canteen, and its a real hive of discussion.
In the next few months I’ll be doing more work at Westonbirt, particularly on the Westonbirt Project, helping the Project Team think about interpretation for some of the new buildings, and out in the collection itself. I spend so much of my time working on other sites, that it will be nice to do some work at Westonbirt itself!
Tags: Alice Holt, climate change, Haldon
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December 21st, 2009
Timesheets have been rather a big preoccupation for me recently, it’s been like drawing blood from a stone to get my Steering Group members to tell me how much time they’ve been spending on Westonbirt Project business.
The context to this is that they’re mostly volunteers – either Trustees of FOWA or HoWT – and as part of our HLF development funding we promised to contribute a certain amount of volunteer time. In fact, all our volunteers are giving far more time than we ever suggested to HLF, which is fabulous, but if we don’t document it then HLF has no proof. Hence my nattering on at the Members about what they see as a tedious and unnecessary admin task. In desperation, last month I promised a jar of home made plum jam in return for co-operation, and lo and behold, yesterday’s Steering Group meeting delivered a bunch of neatly filled out forms. I only hope that my ‘Jam for Timesheets’ deal doesn’t contravene public sector bribery rules.
On the plus side, (and a good thing given that I’m now out of jam), I reckon that the time logged to date is almost enough to tick the HLF box – give it another month and I hope that I’ll be able to stop collecting them.
On the capital works front, we had a meeting with our consultants this week to look at some initial ideas for how the new entrance and car park might work, and the potential layout of new tree team and propagation facilities. It sparked lots of very constructive internal debate, and a consequent reshuffling of some of the functions. I now just need to find the words to tell the architects that it’s all changed…
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December 9th, 2009
The last couple of weeks have found me in a rubbish skip; tracking down a 5 foot blue fairy and trying to eject Father Christmas as a trespasser.
The skip was totally my fault. I’m rather a Womble at heart, and when I’m out and about round the Arb I pick up litter as I go, merrily chucking the bag I’ve collected into the skip on my way back into the office. On this occasion, I had my rather snazzy new camera in the same hand as the rubbish bag. I realised as soon as it left my hand and sailed merrily into the heart of the black bin bags. Cue frantic belt over to the main office, nabbing the nearest bloke to hand, and then back to the skip for a leg up into it. And then a calm saunter into the next meeting with the Canopy Walkway architects in the hope that no-one had seen me rooting around in the rubbish (or would notice the faint whiff on my wellies).
The fairy is easier to explain – the Enchanted Christmas is now up and running on weekend evenings, and the launch night saw my office hosting the changing space for the Fairy and Christmas Tree actors. What they didn’t explain was that Mr Claus is a semi permanent fixture, he actually stays on site whilst he’s working here. He was appropriately jolly about it when I flagged him down and rather frostily demanded what he was doing wandering around the site after dark.
Slightly more mundanely I’ve also been interviewing Project Support Officers, it’s a role that is going to make a big difference to my capacity, as I’ll finally have someone to delegate tasks to! Can’t wait, and I’m already storing up jobs for them when they arrive. We’re working through the civil service paperwork at the moment, and very much hope that we’ll get the preferred candidate in post in early Jan.
Contracts for the architects and consultants we’ve recently appointed to draw up plans for all the new and replacement buildings are the next thing on my to do list…
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November 20th, 2009
It’s not often you can fit 28 children into one puddle, but it has been that sort of week here in education. It has been fairly wet and muddy but we go out in most weather (thunder and lighting the exception) and it can make for excellent photo opportunities like the one described above. This week we have taught children from five different schools, varying in age from 4 to 16, covering topics from energy flow in the food chain to the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees. Just trying to alter my walking speed each day was a challenge in itself!
Many children do not have much opportunity to experience a woodland environment, so being able to show them glades filled with leaves, badger setts and trees from all around the world is a real treat. My job is nearly always slightly surreal (the way I like it!) and this week is no different. I have found myself filling badger soft toys with hot water, convincing a teenager that he is really a caterpillar, demonstrating the correct use of “magic paint” onto tree bark and trying to teach five year olds how to do a Mexican wave outside the toilet block.
Behind the scenes in the office we have less glamorous tasks to complete, such as confirming bookings and updating the database. Friday will be the day for catching up cleaning the education centre. Christmas is coming and we will be ordering plenty of glitter and collecting buckets of cones to make decorations with. We’ll be working with 270 children over 4 days next week so it looks like we’ll be fairly busy!
Tags: children, Christmas, education, schools, westonbirt
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November 19th, 2009
This is my first blog as Project Director, so in time honoured Blind Date fashion I thought I’d tell you what my name is and ‘whur’ I come from (as my in laws are from Liverpool, I reckon I’m allowed to make Scouse jokes…).
So: I’m Miranda Winram. I’ve just moved to Nailsworth from Yorkshire, and I’m here because this looked like a fun job with the great opportunity to help more people enjoy what a brilliant place the Arboretum and Gardens are.
I’ve been in post for exactly three months now, and it’s gone in a blur. So far, I seem to have ‘Directed’ the appointment of a company to develop architects drawings and plans for the new and refurbished buildings and conservation stonework we need (both for the Arboretum and the Gardens), to have helped choose a very beautiful Walkway and Tower for the arboretum (on view in the Great Oak Hall reception), and to have recruited a Head of Fundraising for the Project. I’m hoping she’ll come in handy at raising the cash to build all these wonderful new things….
Tags: Fundraising, Great Oak Hall, The Westonbirt Project, Walkway
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November 5th, 2009
I’ve been out walking around the arboretum over the last few weeks, finding just the right location for 270 different specimens of trees and shrubs. Quite a job as you can imagine (covering an area of 600 acres), but one that is very enjoyable too. Of course I have to make sure that each specimen I plant, fits into the original Holford style which is quite a responsibility.
I’m happy to say that my seed collecting trip to Japan last autumn has proved to be very successful as I’m already using those plants that germinated from seed last Spring. Some of the specimens are: Betula maximowicziana, Cornus kousa, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Clerodendrum trichotomum, Malus tschonoskii, Pterostyrax hispidus, Malus tschonoskii, Pterostyrax hispidus, Betula maximowicziana.
Tags: plants, propagation
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October 15th, 2009
Here in the Events department Autumn is a time of change and re-organising.
Hard on the heels of the busy summer of concerts and the Festival of the Tree, we are already gearing up for Christmas.
We are booking choirs, checking Father Christmas will arrive on time and preparing the route of the Enchanted Christmas trail through the Old Arboretum.
The Events Department is having a change too! Our Events Co-ordinator, Sam Detheridge, recently left to take up a new post for the Forestry Commission in Wales, as Manager at Garwnant Visitor Centre. Our new Co-ordinator, Julie McKellar, begins at the end of October and we are all looking forward to greeting her into the team here at Westonbirt.
We will shortly be sending out invitations for sculptors to submit designs for the Sculptree event at next year’s Festival. We do this as soon as the Autumn tree safety inspection is complete. This lets us know what potential timber we will have to work with for next year. So, having just finished the Festival of the Tree, we are already starting to put together next year’s!
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