On the afternoon of Saturday 25th October, we’ll be hosting a drop-in gathering at the Boiler House. There’ll be tea and conversation, and we’d love to hear your memories of the Garden, however you’d like to share them. That might be a story, a photograph, a sketch, or just something you remember. Feel free to bring memories with you on paper or USB, or simply come along for a chat.
Gardens can be many things: a place of rest, reflection, or retreat; somewhere to grow food, spend time, or simply be. They offer space for both activity and stillness, human and non-human encounters, and thinking with the land. Though usually surrounded by a boundary, gardens are never separate from the wider world; they’re shaped by the relationships, histories, and ecologies that run through them.
In recent years, the Botanic Garden has undergone some changes. With the closure of the glasshouses, we've entered a new phase, less fixed, more open. It's become a site for experimentation, where different disciplines, ideas and practices can meet. In many ways, this isn’t a break from the past, but a continuation of the Garden’s long-standing role as a place of learning and forward thinking.
At this moment of transformation, we wish to revisit the Garden's history with a fresh perspective. What stories have been left out? What has gone unrecorded? How might we begin to piece together a picture of this place, its iterations and relationships, and its role in shaping our understanding of nature, culture and the environment across past, present and future?
Participants may be interested in staying on for our Lost for Words film screening, which follows this event at 6pm. Find out more and book tickets here.
