From 2016 to 2018, the RHS partnered the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT) to fund Horticultural Travelling Fellowships for British horticulturalists and garden designers.
Continuing the tradition of ‘travel to learn … return to inspire’, the Fellowships coincided with a nationwide series of events across the UK in 2016 to mark the tercentenary of the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, one of the United Kingdom’s most celebrated garden designers.
Those awarded Fellowships through the RHS & WCMT:
2018
Joshua Sparkes, a professional gardener from Rye, East Sussex, will be travelling to Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and USA to explore sustainable, organic approaches to soil management in public gardens.
Beth Stewart, a market gardener from Enfield, will be travelling to the USA to research resilient community food growing projects.
2017
Richard Eltringham, an Occupational Therapy Assistant Practitioner from Thurmaston, Leicestershire, travelled to the USA to investigate horticulture based community restitution programmes for offenders with mental health issues.
Amanda Dennis, a gardener from Nunhead, travelled to Germany, the Netherlands and the USA to study alternative, naturalistic styles of bedding planting.
Deborah Austin, a homemaker and mother from Truro, travelled to Japan and Singapore to explore approaches to maximising the therapeutic benefits of public gardens for wheelchair users.
2016
Anna de la Vega, the owner of The Urban Worm, an organic waste management and gardening project in Nottingham, travelled to Cuba and the USA to investigate approaches to food production and worm composting.
Matthew Smith, a gardener from Evesham, travelled to France and South Africa to explore the flora of the region as discovered by historical plant hunters.
Future funding from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
The awards made in 2018 are the last through the three year collaboration between the RHS and WCMT.
Applications for funding support can still be made by direct application to the WCMT and details on this, as well as reports from previous Fellows, can be found on the WCMT website.
