Clear messages of strong support at government level for gardening and horticulture were a feature of this week’s 16th annual reception at the House of Commons of the All Party Parliamentary Gardening & Horticulture Group.
In her introduction, the group’s chairman, Baroness Fookes (left), said the interest in horticulture was important not simply as private hobby but for the health of the population, the economy and for ‘greening Britain’.
The principal speaker, Defra Minister of State George Eustice (below), who has a commercial qualification in horticulture and spent a year working at the former Bransford Nurseries, said there was growing evidence of the positive impact that connecting people with nature has on mental health and wellbeing. Action plans at Defra include a 25-year programme that will centre on apprenticeship opportunities and changing perceptions of horticulture as a career choice.
He said research and development were also important in an industry that employs about 300k people and generates £2bn a year. Defra was also looking at the issue of ‘natural capital, how we can value our environment better than we have done to date” and at the intrinsic links between health and well-being.
The group’s new joint chairman, Ian Liddell-Grainger MP, said visits to RHS shows had confirmed to him that British horticulture was “a world beater” and offered a fantastic career. “I have learned so much about what you can do in this incredibly broad, incredibly sophisticated, highly organized and very well structured system you all have. We try to support you in having a voice in Parliament. You have got very good friends in this place,” he said.
‘Downton Abbey’ star Jim Carter (below), making his third appearance at the reception as a patron of Greenfingers, paid a stirring tribute to the charity’s work in creating garden at children’s hospice and urged his audience to support next year’s three major fund-raisers – Garden Re-Leaf Day in March, the Old for Gold initiative to convert surplus stock into cash and the Great Flower Power Art Challenge.
