October 14th 2015
Mr Bernard Williams has been installed as the new Master of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners at the Company's annual Installation Dinner, held this year at Haberdashers Hall in the City of London. The outgoing Master, Mr Stephen Bernhard FI Hort, was congratulated on his full and active year of tenure and following tradition, he received his Past Master badge.
Also installed in their new roles were Mr John Paul Rochford as Upper Warden, Mr David Green CB QC as Renter Warden, and Mrs Margaret Holland Prior JP as the Company's Spadebearer. Find more details about the new Master and Wardens here.
At the same event, Mr Sid Hill, student at the Duchy College, Cornwall, was presented with the 2015 Prince of Wales Trophy for Sustainable Horticulture. Sid is currently completing his Foundation Degree in Global Plant Use at Duchy College, Cornwall, with a project to determine how tomato plants respond to a living mulch of white clover and inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, while at the same time working as head grower at an organic farm.
His interest and studies in sustainable horticulture began when he was 10 years old, when he was given his first vegetable patch. He was home-educated and spent much of his childhood on his father’s smallholding in Portugal, where he also helped to establish and maintain a forest garden that contained a diverse range of plants with a variety of ethnobotanical uses and with everything grown organically using sustainable principles.
“Sustainability and horticulture have always been a significant part of my life. Home-education allowed me to spend much of my childhood exploring the countryside learning about natural systems. I soon realised the detrimental effects human activity was having on the environment and that our existence will not be long if we carry on this way. Horticulture is a key part of sustainability and will play a great role in securing our future. I plan for my involvement in sustainable horticulture to be in the design and implementation of multifunctional regenerative landscapes.
“A good friend gave me the nickname Sustainable Sid whilst we were studying together in Further Education, and this friend was the reason I entered the Prince of Wales Trophy; he introduced me to it because he said he had complete confidence that I would win.
“I believe this award will increase the opportunities in my future career, because it highlights my commitment to sustainable horticulture.”
Sid hopes to complete a degree in Horticulture - Global Plant Use at Duchy College, Cornwall, in conjunction with the Eden Project, and thereafter, he is keen to study for a Master’s degree in sustainable horticulture at Schumacher College, Dartington, Devon, before finding a permanent role in that industry so that he can spread the message of sustainability to the wider public.
“Sid is clearly deeply passionate about sustainable horticulture and the role it has to play in the 21st-century world. His work is based on years of experience in Portugal and the UK and the judges were impressed by his ability to explain the concept of sustainable horticulture, to see how it fits into the wider picture of growing and supply chains, and its multitude of connections across the environment economy and society,” says Heather Barrett-Mold, chair of the Company’s Awards Committee and member of the Prince of Wales Trophy judging panel.
This award is one of the ways in which the Worshipful Company of Gardeners supports the education and training of horticulture. The horticulture industry has considerable influence on sustainable development through the very importance of plants for well-being, food, and the mitigation of climate change and flood risk.
The 2016 Prince of Wales Trophy will be open for entries early next year. Find out more here.