National Trust Gardens Open for Charity
‘Quiz the Gardener' as the NGS sponsored trainees offer inspiration and advice
NGS has supported National Trust gardens since 1949, most recently by funding the National Trust Careership programme which trains young gardeners to work in historic and fine gardens. To celebrate this partnership, hundreds of National Trust gardens will open for the NGS in 2010 and many will offer an insight into conserving and restoring historic gardens.
The Careership programme is run by The National Trust and ensures that both the Trust and private owners have access to a continuous supply of suitably qualified graduate gardeners, equipped to work in historic and fine gardens.
In recent years the heritage sector has been hard hit by the decline in qualified gardeners who have an understanding of caring for and maintaining historic gardens. In 1991 The National Trust set up a three-year Careership training course to ‘home grow' the gardeners of the future. Since 2001 the NGS has donated over £1.2million towards this training programme.
Mike Calnan, The National Trust's Head of Gardens, says: "Training new gardeners is an essential part of ensuring the survival of historic gardens. The Careership programme is helping to safeguard their future and the NGS support is vital to our work. So far, many graduates have gone on to be employed by the Trust and some have risen to the heights of head gardener.
Julia Grant, Chief Executive of the National Gardens Scheme, says:
"It's all too easy to overlook the fact that students participating in the Careership programme need assistance when undertaking their studies. The donation made by the NGS helps ensure that their studies can be completed and then they can move-on to help preserve and enhance historic gardens in the future."
For more details on NGS garden openings including National Trust go to www.ngs.org.uk
For more information on the National Trust Careership go to http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-places_collections/w-gardens/w-gardens-careerships.htm