Who are the Friends of the Garden?
The Association of Friends of the University of Bristol Botanic Garden was founded in 1975 to support the work and development of the Botanic Garden. Read the Friends’ constitution.
A vital aspect of the Friends’ role is to stimulate interest in the Garden through a variety of events and activities.
Income generated by the Friends is used to invest in new projects and make a major contribution towards the upkeep of the Garden.
Many Friends also support the work of the Garden by becoming directly involved as volunteers.
The aims of the Friends
- To give support to and further the development of the Garden and its educational role.
- To promote interest in botany and horticulture.
- To provide a meeting ground for persons with these interests.
- To give members the opportunity to see and learn about plants grown within the Garden.
Members of the Friends of the Garden get free entry to the Garden and exclusive events. Find out about our membership options.
Friends’ Annual General Meeting
The Friends’ autumn – winter lecture series continues to be on Zoom and the next AGM will be held on Thursday 16 March 2023 at 7pm. This will be followed by a lecture from Miranda Bane, a former PhD student at the University of Bristol. The Zoom link for the combined AGM and lecture is here.
The Annual report for the financial year ended 31 December 2022 which will be presented at the AGM on 16 March is available here.
The AGM will take approximately 25 minutes and we will have a short pause to set up the speaker before the lecture which will start at 7.30pm.
You may not wish to join us for the AGM but please join us at about 7.25pm in time for the lecture.
Any queries regarding the accounts should be submitted to the committee:
Chairman: Pat Davie pattidavie@hotmail.com
Treasurer: Paul Mugford paulmubbg@gmail.com
Membership Secretary: Sue Beech membership@fubbg.co.uk
Fundraising and events
The Friends of the Garden have organised a wide variety of events to raise funds for the Botanic Garden.
In the past these have included:
- art exhibitions
- music concerts
- wine-tasting evenings
- adopt-a-plant programmes
- barbeques
- visits to magnificent public gardens e.g. Kew and Wisley
Friends have also opened their own private gardens with plant sales and refreshments provided by volunteers. Some recipes for cakes made by volunteers for these open gardens together with others which were taken into the Garden for the hard-working staff and garden volunteers were compiled into a very successful cookbook.
