Trustees meet at Garson’s Esher
Trustees held their Autumn meeting at Garson's Esher, where they had a tour of the business from
New name for Foundation to honour Peter Seabrook
Today the David Colegrave Foundation announced it will be changing its name to the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation.
The announcement was made at BBC Gardeners World Live, on the Peter Seabrook Tribute Display in the floral marquee. Peter Seabrook was a founder trustee when the charity was set up in 1993, following the death of David Colegrave, of Colegrave Seeds. Peter had been an active participant in the Foundations activities ever since and never missing a trust meeting in all that time.
“As the industry’s leading charity supporting horticultural students, we were so fortunate to have had Peter as a trustee since the Foundation’s inception” said Jeff Colegrave, the current chair of Trustees.
said Jeff Colegrave, the current chair of Trustees.
“Peter was tireless in his work to promote horticulture as a career and had an energy and enthusiasm that rubbed off on everyone he met. Following his death, we felt it important that his commitment to the industry and his desire to promote horticulture as a career was recognised in a lasting way. We are delighted that the Seabrook family have agreed to allow his name to be added to the charity’s masthead, which will now be known as The Colegrave Seabrook Foundation.”
The Colegrave Seabrook Foundation will continue to support students studying horticulture in UK and Ireland. Last year over £20,000 was awarded in scholarships to students studying a broad range of different subjects within the field of ornamental horticulture, including plant breeding, pest and disease research, growing techniques and sales and marketing. Bursaries were used by students to purchase resources, pay for course fees and for travel to visit nurseries and growers worldwide.
“We are hoping that as well as honouring Peter’s name and contribution to the charity, the name change will help us to raise our profile within the industry and beyond. We are already fortunate to be supported by companies such as Majestic Trees and Ball Horticulture, as well as Blue Diamond who launched a scholarship fund last year through the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation,”
continued Jeff.
“We very much hope that more businesses will feel they would like to help us continue this work. Peter has left a big hole in the heart of the industry and as a charity we feel his loss greatly. All the trustees feel even more driven to honour his legacy by increasing the scale and scope of the work we do in the Foundation , in order to support even more students. The industry is crying out for qualified, competent staff and with so much interest in ‘green’ and environmental issues this must be the ideal time to promote horticulture as the great career choice we all know it to be and we can really start to change the public image of careers in horticulture”
Fellow trustee of Colegrave Seabrook Foundation, Neil Gow said
The Peter Seabrook Tribute Display, chosen for the launch of the new name, showcases Peter’s many and varied contributions to horticulture. As well as paying tribute to his work as a trustee of The Colegrave Seabrook Foundation, it also depicts his broadcasting career, his interest in encouraging children and young people to develop a love of gardening, his work setting up the Floral Fantasia garden at RHS Hyde Hall and his passion for introducing new plant varieties.
“We have based the design of this tribute on Peter’s original concept for this year’s BBC Gardeners World Live, but wanted to incorporate his contribution to the work of the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation. I don’t think he would mind too much that we have ‘tweaked’ his design to recognise the significant part he has played in the work of this charity.”
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