Behind the scenes at Bristol Botanic Garden

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Friends of the University of Bristol Botanic Garden and the volunteers who work tirelessly to keep this beautiful educational resource going have a packed schedule of celebratory events planned.

On Saturday, March 21 there will be a concert with the Bristol University Singers and the Bristol University Madrigal Choir at the Victoria Rooms, closely followed by an arts and sculpture festival over the Easter weekend and a talk by Monty Don planned for the summer.

The Friends are key to understanding the garden’s at times fraught history and have been instrumental in preventing its closure on a number of occasions.

For many of them, like chairman Pat Davie, it is more than just a hobby and part of the very fabric of their lives.

“There are currently 1,900 members of the Friends and 200 of these volunteer actively in the gardens, whether it’s leading tours, organising and publicising events or fundraising for the garden’s trainee horticulturalists.

“I joined in 1995 after attending some garden history courses at the garden’s previous site in Leigh Woods and learned about becoming a volunteer.

“My daughters were in their teens and although I was working full time I wanted to do something outside the home. 

“It seemed a good way to meet other gardening enthusiasts and so I started to help at some of the open days and plant sales. 

“I also began to train as a volunteer guide with the curator, Nick Wray, to take groups of adults and school children around the garden.”

In 2003 Pat was asked to join the committee and in 2004 she was elected as chairman, a position she held for six years – during which time the garden was relocated to The Holmes in Stoke Bishop after a hard-fought battle to save it by the Friends.

Since then Pat has remained on the committee, volunteering in the office to help sort the fascinating archives as well as leading tours of the garden and helping edit the quarterly newsletter. She became chairman again last year.

The Friends was first formed in 1975 in response to threats of closure of the original site at Bracken Hill, Leigh Woods (above) due to a financial crisis at the university. 

Opponents to the plans formed the Friends and began campaigning to raise the profile of the garden and persuade academics and the powers that be of its potential as a vital teaching resource.

Peter Haggett, emeritus professor in urban and regional geography at the University of Bristol, was one of the Friends’ founding members.

He said: “Our primary purpose was to get the university to change its mind and retain Bracken Hill. The formation of an organisation of Friends of the Botanic Garden was a key tactic in that strategy.”

The group drafted a constitution and soon boasted 200 members with many enjoying the popular plant sales of the 1980s which back then were key in raising funds.

The spectre of closure has reared its ugly head several times since, most recently in 2002, when the Friends and senior academics at the university lost their battle to save Bracken Hill and the decision was made to create a new garden at its current site among the halls of residence in Stoke Bishop and The Holmes.

Over the years membership has swelled in number, reaching 2,100 at its peak, with many of that number contributing as volunteers or financially to ensure the garden could continue for the enjoyment of the people of Bristol and horticulturalists everywhere.

Since relocating membership has decreased somewhat and now stands at 1,900, and Pat feels this is due to some uncertainty over the move. Visitor numbers also dropped as many thought the garden had closed instead of moved, but they are now on the increase.

While membership numbers currently stand at 1,900, the Friends are keen to break past the 2,000 barrier again for this special anniversary year.

Pat recalls how the relocation had to be planned with military precision and the plants were transported over many months.

To publicise the move, some of the Friends took part in a sponsored walk over the Clifton Suspension Bridge with wheelbarrows full of plants in May 2005, raising £1,500 towards costs.

“You cannot just pick up a garden and deliver it to the new site so this took place over a period of a couple of years and the new site was designed to provide the right home for the collections which are represented by some 4,500 species of plants, including many rare and threatened natives of the Bristol area.

“Without the support of the Friends the garden could have been closed but it is a testament to their resilience that there is now a new botanic garden with a new design for the collections which are used by students, researchers and local schools as well as being enjoyed by the wider public.”

Although the university funded the basic costs of the new design and development of the garden, it is the Friends who have worked tirelessly both through their membership fees and special appeals to raise money for vital facilities, such as a new Welcome Lodge, the replacement of tree ferns after some died during a harsh winter, purchase of new plants and development of a tropical pool in the glasshouse.

Pat added: “Their fundraising efforts have enabled the purchase of plants to augment the collections; the sponsorship of the curators, enabling travel to New Zealand and South Africa for plant collection; development of special projects; purchase of seats for the garden, including the semi-circular Darwin’s Abominable Mystery seat (above), as well as less visible purchases such as special soils. 

“Over the years many trainee horticulturalists have been supported by the Friends to work and study at the garden and in 2014 a special fund was set up for education and training which raised the amazing sum of £10,000. 

“This has enabled us to fund a full-time trainee for a year. We will continue to raise money for this fund to ensure our support in this way.”

The garden works closely with the university’s School of Biological Sciences in Tyndall Avenue. 

Professor Simon Hiscock is the director of the garden and both he and the curator, Nicholas Wray, give lectures to the students and support those who are doing higher degrees in their research. 

An increasing number of groups of school pupils also come on tours with the volunteer guides.

Nick Wray has been curator at the garden for 30 years and is indebted to the Friends for their staunch efforts to ensure its survival.

He said: “Without the consistent financial support and direct help by many individual friends, the botanic garden would simply not have survived.

“Instead in the early years it did survive and as the years passed by and support gathered, the garden has seen many investments in both people and plants.

“The huge task of moving the plant collections and developing the new botanic garden has been an immense challenge with the resources and pairs of hands available.

“The Friends’ physical and financial support has helped the new garden to establish so that those that use it can be enthused, inspired and excited about plants and the many roles they play in maintaining healthy ecosystems.

“Our students have one of the most modern and relevant botanic gardens in the UK to inspire them in their studies. The Friends have helped make this possible.”

For Pat, helping at the garden can at times feel like a full-time job, but she says the enthusiasm of Nick and his hardworking team is infectious and inspires the volunteers to keep being involved. Those that bring cakes in do always prove popular!

She said: “Everyone who helps does it because they want to and we all feel that it is ‘ours’ as we have helped in the development of a fantastic botanic garden.

“I am extremely busy volunteering doing various jobs but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The gardens are a very special place.”

Membership of the Friends has always included free access to the garden but other benefits over the years have included an annual quota of rooted plants or plant vouchers, free seeds, special members only plant sales, a regular newsletter, lectures from a range of speakers, visits to gardens of members and trips further afield, social events and horticultural advice. 

Courses, initially for members but now open to everyone, have been run at the garden for many years on horticultural subjects and others such as botanic art, willow weaving and Chinese writing and now it is a recognised centre for the Royal Horticultural Society certificates to Level 3.

For more information about the Friends of the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, visit www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden/support/friends