The Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum’s Head of Fundraising, Louise Bird, and the Forestry Commission’s communications team at Westonbirt, Katrina Podlewska and Gina Mills, are currently in the USA, visiting their counterparts at arboretums and botanic gardens to find out who their visitors visitors are, how they fundraise, and to learn from some of the best. The trip has been funded by the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum.

When it comes to raising money it is generally accepted that the Americans know what they are doing, which is why our trip to the States is going to be such a great learning experience. Yesterday’s visit to the Arnold Arboretum certainly set me thinking.

Around 90% of the arboretum’s costs are covered by its endowment… the gift that keeps on giving. The Holfords gave us Westonbirt Arboretum – what are we going to give the next generation?  Is it time to set up our own endowment, not only to give us better financial security but also to make sure our trees are loved and protected for ever more?

The Arnold Arboretum is free to enter.  Its members are members simply because they love the place and want to support it. Their membership is a gift to the arboretum and a gift to everybody in Boston who considers the arboretum to be “their backyard”.

This Corylopsis (Hazel) bonsai tree is one of the trees in the Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection, donated to the Arnold Arboretum and enjoyed by thousands of visitors.

I have said before that a fundraiser’s life is never boring… and this weekend was no exception. I was given the fantastic opportunity to go up on one of the Bristol Balloons flights from Westonbirt Arboretum. The Meningitis Trust have recently teamed up with the hot air balloon company and were doing a PR shoot for the partnership at the arboretum. And I was lucky enough to be allowed to hitch a lift!

I was given a crash course in how to use a camera (and strict instructions not to drop it!) so that I could try and get some photos of the new car park currently being built as part of the Westonbirt Project.  It looks great and was fantastic to see some real progress and something that actually looks like a car park!

There couldn’t have been a more perfect Spring evening for my adventure.  The sun was shining, there was just the right amount of wind (that was even blowing in the right direction) and the flying conditions were perfect. 

The arboretum looks stunning from the air.  As well as getting a great bird’s eye view of the car park, I was able to see the route that the new Treetop Walkway would take in the Silk Wood (planned for Phase Two of the Westonbirt Project. AND our Magnolia sprengeri ‘Diva’ flowered just the day before my flight and was a beautiful pink beacon shining out from the emerging green shoots in the Old Arboretum.

 
A big thank you to the Meningitis Trust and to Bristol Balloons for letting me join them. Viewing the arboretum from up high was a fantastic experience that I would certainly recommend… I guess I’ll just have to wait for the Treetop Walkway to be finished before I get the chance to do it again though!

I’ve been really looking forward to starting work at Westonbirt and this first week has certainly lived up to expectations.

I’ve learnt about the exciting plans of the Westonbirt Project and the progress being made and am looking forward to seeing the car park and Welcome Building taking shape over the coming months.

I’ve also had a chance to wander around sections of the arboretum and have seen the new sculpture by Richard Harris at the 2000 year old lime (pictured above). I can thoroughly recommend lying on the floor inside (surprisingly comfortable), gazing at the sky and watching the clouds pass by through the top of the sculpture – sheer bliss!

I’ve learnt a lot about the dedicated teams of staff and volunteers who manage, protect and develop Westonbirt Arboretum and feel very lucky to be joining them in their task.

Last but not least, I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in and raising funds to support the work at Westonbirt as well as meeting as many of you as possible at our information events about the Westonbirt Project. If you’ve not been to one yet but would like to find out more, you can register now for your invitation…

It is fantastic news that we can now recycle our old mobile phones and printer ink cartridges and raise money for the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum at the same time!

I found 3 old mobile phones in my drawer when I was sorting out after Christmas and each of these could be worth as much as £30 to the charity.

What a brilliant way to recycle old resources and raise money for my favourite place at the same time! And it won’t cost me anything as the envelopes are freepost.

Go to http://www.fowa.org.uk/how_you_can_help/the_difference_you_make and click on the link to find out what you can recycle for the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum and get involved now!

Massive thanks to Ecotricity, one of the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum corporate supporters, who hosted me at their Sustainability in Sport Match at Forest Green Rovers yesterday.

It is fair to say that I do not have a huge amount of football knowledge. I had heard of Gary Neville though, who brought the Manchester United (a team I had heard of as well!) Reserve Squad to Nailsworth for the match.

We joined some of Ecotricity’s other affiliate partners to sample the delicious vegetarian menu prepared and served by Relish, who are also our caterers for venue hire at the Great Oak Hall. It was really great to get to know the Ecotricity partnerships team better and also have the opportunity to talk to representatives from other organisations who work with them. Ecotricity currently make a £60 donation to the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum every time one of our Friends and visitors switch their gas and electricity to them (visit www.ecotricity.co.uk/westonbirt).

After lunch, just as the monsoon rains moved on to soak another part of the country, we made our way outside for kick off. It was my first live football match, and by clapping when everybody else clapped, “oooohing” at the near misses and shouting the occasional “good ball” I think I managed not to embarrass myself too much. Man. Utd. went 1 0 up in the first half, and typically I was in the Ladies when Forest Green scored the 1st equaliser just after half time (which neatly coincided with Murray taking the Gold medal at the Olympics!) All the excitement of the match came to a head in the 90th minute, when the home team scored a second goal which ended the match with a 2 2 draw.

The Sustainability in Sport Foundation is the brain child of Dale Vince (owner of Ecotricity and Forest Green Rovers) and Gary Neville (England coach and former Manchester Utd captain) who are aiming to “change the rules” and “put sustainability into the heart of sport”. Needless to say they took the opportunity to showcase some of Forest Green Rovers FC’s leading environmental initiatives, including the solar powered MowBot which uses GPS technology to mow the pitch… I wonder how well it would do around the trees at Westonbirt Arboretum? Possibly something to add to the “things to fundraise for” list?

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