See you at the show

Yorkshire Life is the proud sponsor of the Great Yorkshire Show Flower Show and Small Gardens, especially this year, the year of its landmark 150th show.We will be hosting the flower hall and have invited Askham Bryan College, near York, to build our own Yorkshire Life Small Garden. This is the first year we have sponsored the Flower Show and Small Gardens although Yorkshire Life has regularly supported the Members’ Area and we will be there again this year. Chris Jennings, publisher of Yorkshire Life, said he was particularly pleased that the magazine has this opportunity to become more involved with the Great Yorkshire Show. ‘Readers are used to finding us in the Members’ Area and we are there again this year but I am delighted that we are also sponsoring the Flower Show and Small Gardens and hope very much that readers will come to see us there too. ‘I’d like to say a very special thank you too, to Askham Bryan College for taking on the challenge of creating the Yorkshire Life Small Garden and look forward very much to seeing the results of all their hard work.’ Askham Bryan College, four miles south west of York, is set in beautiful surroundings that must rank as one of the most attractive student campuses in the country. The extensive grounds are home to the college’s horticultural unit with its specialist glasshouses, woodlands and arboretum, themed demonstration gardens, formal rose garden and herbaceous and shrub borders. Today’s college has evolved from a series of initiatives to develop formal agricultural and horticultural education in Yorkshire dating as far back as 1898, although the college we know today opened in 1948. Horticultural students were amongst the first to be admitted. Back in those days students were required to wear a collar and tie at all times, even when engaged on practical work. Today the College has almost 700 full-time students and more than 2,000 others who study on a part-time basis at the York campus and at the college’s other centres throughout the region. Although the range of subjects available has expanded rapidly in recent years, the college remains true to its land-based roots with horticultural courses prominent in the curriculum. ‘We are proud of the national reputation we have in the horticultural sector,’ says section leader for horticulture and landscape industries, Andrew Mahy. ‘These days we provide an increasingly wide range of training and education which is all designed to meet the needs of our students and the industry. As well as amenity and production horticulture courses we cover subject areas such as landscape construction, garden design, forestry, arboriculture and sports surface management, reflecting the changes and developments in the industry. Our students can chose from a variety of flexible study methods to suit their way of life. Some of our students join us on full-time courses straight from school whilst others are mature students studying part-time for degrees, perhaps to increase their skills levels or for a complete change of career.We also offer apprenticeships and short, intensive courses for businesses and the self-employed.’ As a result the college community includes students studying on courses ranging from introductory level to honours degrees. Some are residential while others study on a daily basis or come to the college on block release from employment. ‘Askham Bryan is a very friendly and supportive college and our students value the close links they have with our staff and local industries,’ adds Andrew. ‘Over the years this has resulted in us having considerable success in designing and building gardens at shows all over the country and abroad. In the last year alone our students have taken awards from events as diverse as the Harrogate Spring Flower Show to the International Skills Olympics in Japan. Our students also work on a variety of workrelated and community projects such as the annual maintenance plan for the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York which has just been completed by a group of students studying for Foundation Degrees in Landscape and Garden Management. We are delighted that we are now working with Yorkshire Life on its garden for this year’s Great Yorkshire Show.’

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