Suntrap Garden to CLOSE
By csarina
4 comments
As a friend of Suntrap I can only re-iterate what Scotsgran has said, this is a beautiful garden which had been supported by the friends for 32 years. Please do what you can to help us keep the garden open. The bottom line is that we need at least £130,000 to put o hand some of the remedial work, where the surveyors get their £750,000 I simply do not know.
We need a figure head to represent us in our fight……and above all money so we can at least keep the garden open, according to the accounts it breaks even at the moment. To keep the classes running we have to pay the tutors……..Oatridge have provided them in the past, I am not sure as to how they equate to the accounts. We were only informed about this on Wednesday, and have been given very little time to try and sort out a plan to save this garden for the people it was intended for.
It was George Boyd Andserson’s wish that the garden be used to teach people about gardening and encourage people to grow things, both flowers and vegetables.
Any help or suggestions will be very gratefully recieved.
There are photographs of the garden taken on our recent open day in my photos and there is more information about Suntrap both on the NTS page and also the Suntrap page.
12 Jun, 2010
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Comments
No it has never been a commercial enterprise. As Csarina says it is an educational facility run by Oatridge College because the NTS were never in the business of running courses. The owner who donated it wanted it to be a a facility to help educate people and The Scottish Agricultural College who run courses for Greenkeepers, Beekeepers, Garden Design courses etc at Oatridge seemed to be a good choice for caring for the garden at Suntrap. Nowadays colleges and Universities are all expected to keep their heads above water by getting funding from bodies outside of the main educational promoters. The Principal at Oatridge and the Board of managers there obviously feel that supporting an off site facility is no longer a priority for them given that they have their own financial struggle.
12 Jun, 2010
OMG, this is sad newsl!! Disgraceful, and shameful,as sounds that someone (surveyors) is trying to make a fast profit from estimates. I have not visited, yet, but have read plenty about this place and its origins.
What is the nature of the remedial work required?
Could the "Beechgrove Garden" feature it and its predicament, provide a figurehead?
grasping at straws at this late hour, but will think on this more.
13 Jun, 2010
At this moment in time I do not know what remedail work needs doing,; I am not sure that we have been given access to the surveyors report. What I do know is that in the past when repairs have been beeded they have been done on a very ad hoc basis, Oatridge always saying that although they used the garden they were not in a position to afford large repairs.
The friends took a decision many years ago that money we raised should not be used for repairs to the property, our remit was to keep the garden going by supplying manners at the weekend, money for plants etc in the garden, books etc for the library and prizes for students who worked at Suntrap as part of their course.
As just a member of the friends I cannot do anything except make suggestions, it is up to the committee, to be honest the fiends are rudderless, we do not have a chairman, only an acting chairman......
13 Jun, 2010
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Members who like this blog
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Gardening with friends since
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Is this a commercial enterprise owned by Oatridge college?
12 Jun, 2010