Future Gardeners celebrate successes

On Tuesday 20 July 14 of our horticultural students gathered in Red Cross Garden to celebrate passing our Future Gardeners Programme.  With two previous graduations disrupted by covid, the event saw three groups of students mark their successes.

Speakers included; Richard Barley, Director of Horticulture & Learning at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Dr. Heather Barrett-Mold, Immediate Past Master, Worshipful Company of Gardeners; and Robert Halbert-Pereno, Gardener, Lancaster West Estate and previous Future Gardeners student.

Future Gardeners has been running for five years and has hosted 115 students.  There is an overall completion rate of 81%. Of the students who finish the course, 75% have gone on to employment in the industry.

Nine students graduated from the most recent course. They had reason to celebrate as seven out of the nine students had already been successful in gaining employment with the likes of Bartholomew Landscapes, Gavin Jones and Willerby Landscapes.

We welcome the next round of students in September 2021.

From top clockwise: Future Gardeners 11, our most recent students; Richard Barley, Director of Horticulture & Learning at Royal Botanic Gardens; Future Gardeners graduates from 2020; Robert Halbert-Pereno, Gardener, Lancaster West Estate and previous Future Gardeners student.