CORNWALL GARDENS TRUST

Welcome to everyone and thank you for coming to the Tremayne Hall.

The Education Programme for secondary schools has continued to thrive with help from our generous donor, the Tanner Trust.  Seven awards have been made and other schools are being contacted by Claire Hewlett and her team.  Primary schools have also benefited from the Small Grants Scheme, and the McCrone Trust is to be thanked here.  Bodmin Library as part of the Passmore Edwards Library initiative is hoping to create a secret garden with CGT help.  The 2012 South West Education Seminar will be hosted by the CGT and will probably take place in the spring.

Three bursaries were awarded to Duchy College students and we understand from the college tutors that all three are progressing satisfactorily. There is a current concern about the shrinking pool of well-trained professional gardeners and our bursary funding helps in a small but significant way to address this concern.

Ianthe del Tufo organised a training day for the Recorders at the Headland Garden, Polruan, by courtesy of Mrs Jean Hill.  Records are at various stages of completion but more recording volunteers would help enormously to accelerate their completion.  The AGT are actively promoting Volunteers Week June 1st-7th co-ordinated by Volunteering England so perhaps this initiative might encourage members.  The CGT has contributed to the Gyllyngdune Gardens restoration project in Falmouth, an impressive undertaking which when completed will be open to the public and provide an attractive background to the Princess Pavilion.  The cheque was formally handed over at Gyllyngdune to Jon Mitchell, the Project Manager, who has expressed his thanks to the Trust.

Garden visits were mostly very well attended and Elisabeth Walker assisted with the stewarding.  We are very grateful to the owners for giving up their time to guide our members, answer questions and provide very generous hospitality.  The Christmas Lecture and Lunch, organized by Jean Marcus, was well received and we were made very welcome by the staff at Lanhydrock.

Trish Gibson is to be thanked for an excellent edition of the Journal, as is David Pearce for his informative Newsletters.  The website, ably co-ordinated by Peter Fairbank, is as ever ready for members’ contributions.

The CGT were invited to two seminars: Opening all the Gates at Saltram and the Memorandum of Understanding at Lanhydrock.  These continue an initiative by the National Trust and others to encourage accessibility to historic landscapes and gardens.  The feasibility study, which I have referred to before and which is being undertaken by the AGT to link English Heritage and similar bodies, is not yet complete.  Sally Walker, AGT Chairman, tells me they are ‘exploring opportunities’, however I am sure it will have been completed by the date of the AGM, September 2nd – 4th at Worcester College, Oxford, and entitled ‘Power Gardening’.  Visits to some very grand gardens have been organized.  I hope everyone was able to see a copy of the new AGT 2011 yearbook.

So once again, on behalf of the CGT, I should like to thank all the members of the committee for their hard work.

Dr Angela Stubbs