Yorkshire Arboretum Newsletter - Issue 1 - May 2013
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MEMBERS NEWSLETTER<br />
Inside this issue:<br />
WELCOME!<br />
Our members are the very roots of the<br />
<strong>Yorkshire</strong> <strong>Arboretum</strong> and we want to<br />
ensure that you’re kept up to date with all<br />
that goes on here. To that end, welcome to<br />
our very first newsletter as “The <strong>Yorkshire</strong><br />
<strong>Arboretum</strong>”.<br />
I know that previously, for various reasons,<br />
the newsletter was issued only once a year.<br />
We now plan to bring you an assortment of<br />
updates, news, views, pictures, and What’s<br />
On information regularly throughout the<br />
year. The content will vary with the seasons<br />
and in response to your feedback so do<br />
please let me know what you’d like to see<br />
more (and possibly less!) of in these pages.<br />
If I may start our first issue with an appeal,<br />
please can I ask you to ensure we have your<br />
email address? With postal costs<br />
becoming ever more prohibitive we hope<br />
to conserve funds by communicating with<br />
our members exclusively via email<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2013</strong><br />
wherever possible. Please contact us at<br />
members@yorkshirearboretum.org or on<br />
01653 648598 to notify us of your email<br />
address or any changes to it.<br />
I’d also like to particularly draw your<br />
attention to the Members Afternoon on<br />
June 6th when Alastair Fitter, our Chair,<br />
and I hope to meet as many of you as<br />
possible for a discussion on our plans for<br />
the arboretum’s development. More<br />
details are on p.3, where you will also find<br />
information on other forthcoming events.<br />
If you’re unable to attend the Members’<br />
Afternoon then I hope to see you on your<br />
next visit to the arboretum or at one of our<br />
events. In the meantime, thank you for<br />
continuing to support the arboretum via<br />
your membership.<br />
John Grimshaw<br />
director@yorkshirearboretum.org<br />
A new approach... 2<br />
...and a new path 2<br />
Seasonal highlights: The<br />
Director’s perspective<br />
Members’ Afternoon<br />
Thursday 6th June<br />
Members’ Coffee<br />
Mornings<br />
2<br />
3<br />
3<br />
What’s On 3<br />
Membership Renewal 3<br />
News from Ray Wood 4<br />
Prunings from the<br />
arboretum<br />
4<br />
NEIL BATTY S LONG SERVICE AWARD<br />
A presentation was made recently to<br />
<strong>Arboretum</strong> Operations Manager Neil Batty<br />
by Mr Simon Howard, to recognise his<br />
thirty years of service, first to Castle<br />
Howard and then to the arboretum.<br />
We are very grateful for Neil’s continued<br />
service, loyalty and hard work. We’re<br />
especially delighted to see him returned to<br />
work and well on the way to recovery after<br />
breaking his ankle in March.<br />
ND A NEW MEMBER OF THE TEAM<br />
We are delighted to welcome Susan Casey<br />
as our Visitor Services Coordinator four<br />
days per week (Fri – Mon), helping visitors<br />
with tickets and membership purchases,<br />
dealing with group and event bookings,<br />
looking after the Visitor Centre and being<br />
the welcoming face of the arboretum.
<strong>Yorkshire</strong> <strong>Arboretum</strong> Members’ <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 2<br />
A NEW APPROACH...<br />
We’ve been working to improve the<br />
approach to the Visitor Centre, previously<br />
rather unwelcoming and hardly visible<br />
through dense conifers. Felling took place<br />
in December and since then the area has<br />
looked rather desolate. No longer!<br />
Matthews Ltd. of Tenbury Wells, Worcs.<br />
New grass has been sown to cover the<br />
ground so very soon the transformation will<br />
be complete.<br />
Mike Hainsworth<br />
in action in the<br />
car park<br />
WEEKEND<br />
OPENING TIMES<br />
The arboretum<br />
and café are now<br />
open until 6pm<br />
every Saturday<br />
and Sunday until<br />
31 October—an<br />
ideal opportunity<br />
for an afternoon<br />
stroll.<br />
As well as being a<br />
delicious treat<br />
during your visit, a<br />
selection of the<br />
café’s renowned<br />
home-made cakes<br />
are also available<br />
to take away—<br />
enjoy our cake in<br />
your home!<br />
Last week, with incredible skill, precision<br />
and delicacy, our contractor Mike<br />
Hainsworth extracted the tree roots and<br />
graded the ground with his digger. He then<br />
proceeded, with rather more vigour, to<br />
create a few extra car parking spaces.<br />
Next day, Nicola Hall and the Tree Team<br />
volunteers planted a selection of attractive<br />
new trees, some from our partner, RBG<br />
Kew, others generously provided by FP<br />
We’ve also been busy improving access into<br />
the arboretum for those visitors with<br />
limited mobility, those with pushchairs and<br />
AND A NEW PATH<br />
buggies, and indeed all visitors during wet<br />
periods when the grass paths become<br />
quagmires.<br />
Our splendid new path, which wends its<br />
way from the Visitor Centre to the track by<br />
the lake, via the Katsura Grove, is being<br />
completed as we go to press. As with all<br />
new construction it looks a little stark<br />
against the landscape at the moment but<br />
will soon soften in and become a welcome<br />
addition to the arboretum.<br />
SEASONAL HIGHLIGHTS: THE DIRECTOR S PERSPECTIVE<br />
This is my first spring here and after the<br />
miserably long winter it is lovely to see the<br />
arboretum coming back to life.<br />
I find the subtle shades of green seen in<br />
breaking foliage more attractive than<br />
gaudier autumn colours —and more<br />
optimistic, promising a future, not an end.<br />
These are the forerunners of the bulbs we<br />
plan to plant annually from now on, as part<br />
of the Trust’s plans to enhance the beauty<br />
of the arboretum with more flowering<br />
plants through the year.<br />
As I write, the pheasants-eye daffodils and<br />
camassias we planted last autumn are<br />
coming into full flower and promise a<br />
splendid show.
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2013</strong> Page 3<br />
MEMBERS<br />
FTERNOON - THURSDAY JUNE 6TH, 4PM<br />
All members are cordially invited to join<br />
Alastair Fitter, Chair of Trustees, and John<br />
Grimshaw, Director, to hear about the<br />
Trust’s plans to protect and develop the<br />
long-term future of the <strong>Yorkshire</strong><br />
<strong>Arboretum</strong>.<br />
There will be a couple of short<br />
presentations on our investment strategy,<br />
landscape management plan and financial<br />
ambitions followed by an open discussion<br />
so do please bring along any questions<br />
you’d like to ask.<br />
Please join us at 4pm for a cup of tea and a<br />
slice of home-made cake from the<br />
<strong>Arboretum</strong> Café. The meeting will then<br />
start at 4.30 pm, with talks lasting no more<br />
than 30 minutes. The floor will then be<br />
open to members to raise any topics or<br />
questions they may have.<br />
Afterwards Alastair and John will be leading<br />
a walk through the arboretum, which<br />
members are welcome to join.<br />
For catering purposes, we’d be grateful if<br />
you could let us know if you plan to attend<br />
this event on 01653 648598 or by email at<br />
members@yorkshirearboretum.org<br />
MEMBERS<br />
OFFEE MORNINGS<br />
WHAT S ON<br />
Starting on the 5th<br />
June, we are inviting<br />
members to come to<br />
the arboretum on the<br />
first Wednesday of<br />
each month for a cup<br />
of coffee and an<br />
informal presentation<br />
from one of the team,<br />
including a short walk into the arboretum<br />
to see what projects they’re working on.<br />
Presentations start at 11.30, so get your<br />
coffee in good time! Details for each coffee<br />
morning will be on the website.<br />
June 2<br />
June 3<br />
Watercolour class<br />
Members’ Preview of an Exhibition by<br />
Susan Neale, Artist-in-Residence<br />
June 4 Impressions of the <strong>Yorkshire</strong><br />
- 16 <strong>Arboretum</strong>—Exhibition by our<br />
Artist-in-Residence<br />
June 5<br />
June 6<br />
Members’ Coffee Morning<br />
(presentation by Nicola Hall, Plant<br />
Records & Tree Team Manager, 11.30am)<br />
Members’ Afternoon, 4pm<br />
June 13 Horticultural Lecture Series<br />
Paul Evans, A wildflower meadow<br />
walk, 7.30pm<br />
June 21 Volunteers’ Garden Party, 6.30pm<br />
July 3<br />
Members’ Coffee Morning<br />
More details for all<br />
events can be<br />
found on the<br />
website and in the<br />
Visitor Centre.<br />
Updates will be<br />
sent by email, or<br />
please check the<br />
What’s On board in<br />
the Visitor Centre<br />
on your next visit.<br />
Don’t forget Wild<br />
About Wood on the<br />
14th/15th<br />
September!<br />
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL<br />
If you have not yet renewed your<br />
membership for <strong>2013</strong>, please do so soon to<br />
continue receiving your membership<br />
benefits.<br />
Membership now runs for 12 months, not<br />
over a calendar year, so a renewal now will<br />
run until <strong>May</strong> or June 2014<br />
<br />
<br />
“members only” entry during February<br />
Free entry to the Royal Botanic Gardens,<br />
Kew, Westonbirt, the Bedgebury<br />
Pinetum, Kent and HDRA Ryton Organic<br />
Gardens, Coventry<br />
Free spring and autumn tours of Ray<br />
Wood<br />
Don’t forget that, in addition to supporting<br />
the work of the arboretum your<br />
membership includes:<br />
Unlimited entry to the arboretum for 10<br />
months per year including exclusive<br />
<br />
Discounted or free entry to a range of<br />
arboretum events<br />
Membership Application Forms can be<br />
downloaded from the website (click on the Get<br />
Involved tab, then Membership) or picked up at<br />
the Visitor Centre.
Brochure design: www.marketingbyignite.com<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2013</strong> Page 4<br />
NEWS FROM RAY WOOD<br />
The restoration work in Ray Wood that has<br />
taken place over the past three years,<br />
funded by The Monument Trust and<br />
Foundation <strong>Arboretum</strong> Wespelaar, has<br />
been spectacularly justified this spring by<br />
the magnificent flowering of the<br />
rhododendrons. They are enjoying the<br />
increased light levels and freedom from<br />
competing vegetation.<br />
New trails have been devised to guide<br />
visitors to interesting plants, and a new<br />
informational booklet about the garden has<br />
been produced by Castle Howard.<br />
An exhibit of rhododendrons from Ray<br />
Wood staged at RHS Harlow Carr last<br />
month won several prizes, and drew the<br />
collection to the notice of the public.<br />
Members’ guided tours of Ray Wood will be<br />
on the 28th <strong>May</strong>, 1st June, 27th & 29th<br />
October. Please book at the Visitor Centre.<br />
We hope this newsletter<br />
is useful, informative and<br />
helps you gain the most<br />
from your membership<br />
of the <strong>Yorkshire</strong><br />
<strong>Arboretum</strong>.<br />
Kathryn Hardaker, our Education Officer,<br />
recently spent some time at Hackfall Wood,<br />
running pond-dipping sessions. Here are<br />
excerpts from two of the thank you letters<br />
received from the children, aged 9:<br />
Elise: “I loved the pond dipping! I caught a<br />
few tadpoles, a newt and a big frog!”<br />
Alex: “We caught 3 tadpoles, a newt and<br />
that big frog that Elise stole from us!”<br />
Did you know that the <strong>Arboretum</strong> Café was<br />
awarded a 5* Food Hygiene Rating (the<br />
best possible) after a recent inspection? A<br />
resounding endorsement of the work of<br />
PRUNINGS FROM THE ARBORETUM<br />
Diane King and all the café team and yet<br />
another reason to indulge in their delicious<br />
home-made fare!<br />
We warmly welcome Jackie Ray and<br />
Christine Pietrowski as our new voluntary<br />
Volunteer Coordinators. They are busy<br />
bringing our volunteer database up to date<br />
and have produced new role descriptions<br />
for areas where we’re looking for volunteer<br />
assistance. These are available on the<br />
volunteering page of our website, or by<br />
request from the Visitor Centre desk. You<br />
can contact Jackie and Chris on<br />
volunteer@yorkshirearboretum.org<br />
Please send your<br />
feedback, together with<br />
your photos, stories and<br />
suggestions for topics<br />
you’d like to see covered<br />
in the next issue to<br />
news@yorkshirearboretum.org<br />
Castle Howard<br />
York<br />
YO60 7BY<br />
p: 01653 648598<br />
e: members@yorkshirearboretum.org<br />
w: www.yorkshirearboretum.org<br />
The <strong>Yorkshire</strong> <strong>Arboretum</strong> is indebted to the many talented photographers whose work illustrates these pages. These include, amongst others, Harry & Joyce Kingman,<br />
John Grimshaw, Ron Cooke and Roy Howell. All photos & illustrations remain © of their respective copyright owners and are used with permission.