I love flower shows, so I'm thrilled to just remind you that the RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show takes place from 3rd August to 7th August 2022.

Dig deep for more information here

There are over 60 trade and nursery exhibits to look at, talks and demonstrations in The Potting Shed theatre and plant displays of plants such as cactus and bonsai.  And of course, you can keep yourself well watered and fed as you stroll round enjoying everything.

Don't miss The Secured Garden, created in partnership with the Essex Police.

You can shop for quality plants and get lots of tips and advice from expert nurseries as you take in their displays.  There's even a plant creche to look after your plants!

Craft lovers can be inspired by a mine of designs in the Craft in Focus pop-up marquee.  There are about 25 exhibitors, who constitute a selection fo the UK's finest craftspeople and artists.   If you're a craft lover, you could also pop along to the Craft & Design Fair at RHS Hyde Hall from 26th to 29th August 2022 

Normal garden admission applies if you want to go to the RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show, and you don't need to book to access the show, according to the website.  It's free to RHS members and a guest.

You can buy tickets here - why not treat a loved one to a great day out?  

Become an RHS member here

There’s amazing news from ZSL’s London Zoo! 

Gaysha has given birth to THREE Critically Endangered Sumatran tiger cubs!  They were born on Monday 27^th June and footage on ZSL London Zoo’s hidden ‘cubcam’ shows Gaysha giving birth and then gently cleaning the cubs, and then dad Asim quietly coming to meet his new family. 

These three add to the critically endangered Sumatran tigers 

More about ZSL's work with Sumatran tiger conservation

There are only 300 Sumtran tiger cubs left in the wild so this is a really important event for the species.  ZSL works in two main areas:  the Berbak National Park on the east coast of Sumtra and the Dangku corporate Conservation Complex  which is in the south.  ZSL is undertaking a number of activities there, for it is part of the Sundaland biodiveristy hotspot and has some of the highest rates of deforestation in the archipelago.  Tigers are suffering from conflicts with humans and poaching, both of tigers and their pray.   ZSL has two “Wildlife Conflict and Crime Response Teams” to address key threats to tigers including poaching, illegal trading and other human-wildlife conflict.  You can find out more here

 

The 29th July is Global Tiger Day.  Many conservation organisations highlight the plight of tigers.
Why not adopt a tiger from ZSL as a gift or for yourself?

#WorldTigerDay  #InternationalTigerDay #GlobalTigerDay

Meantime, back in London...

ZSL London Zoo's new Sumatran tiger cubs will be named after they’ve all had their first vaccinations, when they are about 3 months old.  Vets and zookeepers will be able to confirm the sex of each cub then.   Meantime, the zoo staff are giving this very important family a chance to have some peace and privacy and quiet time, and paws crossed, the cubs are doing well.

This week (21 July 2022), Mum Gaysha decided it was warm enough for them to venture outside.  Find out all about it here!

Congratulations to Gaysha and Asim and everyone at ZSL!

By the way, A Summer of Colour is ZSL London Zoo’s celebration of nature's kaleidoscope, and it runs until 31 August 2022.  Find out more and book here

It’s back on our screens!

Kew Gardens:  A Year in Bloom is back on Channel 5 on  Tuesday 19^th July 2022 at 8pm.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has two incredible sites. 

The gardens’ website explains that “Plants and fungi are vital to the future of food, clean air and medicine. We’re fighting against biodiversity loss to save life on Earth.”

They cover over 300 acres in south west London, and 535 acres at their Sussex base, Wakehurst.

They are quite amazing, with centre of scientific innovation, historical interest, a tourist attraction and home to an incredible plant collection.

The Channel 5 series follows the staff who look after the plants over the course of a year, and it’s quite a task. Try to imagine evaluating almost 17,000 different plant species in the garden to work out what stays and what goes – that’s Simon’s job, he’s the new Head of Living Collections.  Rather him than me!

Visit the world famous Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
£39.00 for two with Virgin Experience Days

You can discover rare and threatened plants in The Temperate House, the largest Victorian glasshouse
in the world. And there’s the Mediterranean Garden and King William’s Temple. There’s the chance to have a quiet moment in the Japanese Gardens. And there’s the Natural Area, 37 acres of beautiful woodland. Queen Victoria donated the woodland to Kew, with the condition that it remains in a wilder, untamed state.

There are, of course, many other things to see at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and you can get a better idea of what they are by visiting their website.

Wakehurst is in Sussex.  Why not treat a loved one to a day out there?
£29.00 with Virgin Experience Days

At the Wakehurst site, scientists have collected, dried and banked seeds from rare, endangered, endemic, and useful plants.  They can protect these for generations to come.  They have done this working with 260 global partners, and now the seed collection is the largest in the world.  It has 2.4 billion seeds at its Millennium Seed Bank, the largest such bank in the world and they are stored at Wakehurst’s sub-zero, state of the art facility which is underground.  There are some fascinating facts and figures about this seed bank here.

There’s  Bloomers Valley which is a landmark meadow restoration.  There are rich, local grasslands buzzing with insects.  There’s the Rock Walk, which dates back 140 million years.   And the beautiful Bethlehem Wood, which has one of Britain’s greatest collection of birches (Betula), with some of the most critically endangered species. Westwood Valley is home to Wakehurst’s stunning collection of rare rhododendrons

On their website, do keep an eye on Read and Watch and they also do short courses (plus professional ones, and there’s lots for children, too.  They’ve also got online courses, handy if you live nowhere near Kew or Wakehurst.

Now, you could give a gift membership to  the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Virgin Experience Days also has a number of experience days which could make a lovely gift for anyone who loves gardens.  Equally, you can escape to Kew Gardens from your sofa with Virtual Kew!

Virgin Experience Days has a number of experiences at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst
Find out more here

Did you know that May is Local and Community History Month?

The aim is to raise awareness of local history – often forgotten besides the histories of people such as Henry VIII or events such as the Second World War.   But it’s also a chance to promote history to local communities and get people involved.

Getting involved in a local history group is also a great way to meet other people who are also interested in history, so like-minded people, and you can learn a lot from each other.

The Local and Community History Month is organised by the Historical Association.  It’s a chance to get out and about in your area, and really delve into how  your local area has changed, what’s happened and why, the local characters involved,  how it connected with the outside world and so forth.   The Association have 10 Top Tips for Researching the History of Where You Live so this would be a great place to start and there will be events going on all over the country.

One great source of local history is of course newspapers. Thanks to a great project between the British Library and the British Newspaper Archive, there are now over 52 million pages of newspapers you can access online through a subscription.  They’re adding more and more pages each week and you can see the new titles being added here.  So you can find out all about local history in your area even if  you are still restricted, or do your research online and then  head off to spot history, stand where it happened, and imagine what life would have been like.

The British Newspaper Archive gives us a chance to see what readers wanted to read about and hear about, what was popular to sell and buy at the time – the advertisements are a great source of information – and what sort of social events were held.  You can give a gift subscription for one month or choose to run it for longer.

Local and Community History Month is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the Historical Association itself.

The Historical Association has a number of memberships, including a Gift Membership –  and the Historian Membership which is for anyone who just loves history.  There are also different memberships for those involved in the subject at primary or secondary level and you can see what the different membership levels include here.  The website on its own is a massive mine of information for people involved at a professional level e.g. history teachers or wannabe history teachers but there’s also lots of articles and topics of interest for people who just love the subject.

Historian Membership of the Historical Association includes The Historian, the quarterly magazine of the Historical Association
image ©Historical Association

Historian Members receive The Historian quarterly magazine (not every membership includes this) and you can download a free copy by registering online to see what it’s like.  It’s a great gift for anyone who teaches or studies history – or who just loves it.  I did History for my degree and still love immersing myself in the past to escape from the craziness of this modern world we live in and daily routine!

Memberships help support the Association’s mission to develop the teaching, learning and enjoyment of history at all levels, for generations to come.

Members also have free access to over 350 high-quality podcast talks by history experts; these cover historical periods, regions and themes, so there’s plenty to discover!

The Historical Association was originally established in part to bring people together who were interested history, and there are over 45 local branches around the UK meeting regularly.  Branches organise a programme of speakers every year so that members and the public can hear from historians and researchers.  You can find your closest branch here.  They may also be history visits and CPD events, it depends on the branch.

Find out about the Historical Association's Historian Membership here 

There's also the British Association for Local History, which is the national association devoted to local history.  It publishes books and pamphlets on local history, and it also publishes both The Local Historian, a quarterly journal, and Local History News, a topical magazine.  It has lots of resources online, plus events and there are even classroom exercises to bring local history into the classroom!  There are several different types of membership.  Visit the British Association for Local History here

You could also think about giving a magazine subscription which covers a particular area of the UK - a county, for instance - or a particular theme such as walking.  isubscribe.co.uk has lots of choice - view their range here.