West Horsley Place wrote;

We are delighted to welcome our first WRAGS (Work and Retrain As a Gardener Scheme) trainee, Lizzie Bourke.

The WRAG Scheme, launched in 1993 by charity WFGA (Working For Gardeners Association), provides paid part-time practical horticultural training through carefully sourced garden placements where trainees learn under the instruction of the Head Gardener.

Lizzie will be the first WRAGS trainee at West Horsley Place.  Lizzie will spend one year with us learning from Head Gardener, Nicky Webber, her placement is being supported by a bursary provided by the National Garden Scheme.

The provision of this placement is an important next step for the West Horsley Place Trust in becoming a centre for creativity and learning.  The charity’s vision is that West Horsley Place will be a welcoming space for the community to enjoy with arts, culture, history and nature at its heart.

Head Gardener, Nicky Webber, shares her excitement in having Lizzie join the team,

“We are delighted to welcome Lizzie to West Horsley Place, and are very grateful to Alison Hepworth from WFGA and also to the National Garden Scheme for kindly making this placement possible. As we move forward with the restoration of the walled gardens, we are learning more and more about their fascinating history.  A high point was the discovery earlier this year that our Serpentine Wall may be the oldest surviving example in the country! Understanding the history of the gardens is key to their restoration.  In addition to opening to visitors, the gardens will provide further opportunities for local people to volunteer and learn through our future programme of arts, crafts, history and natural heritage activities.  Over the coming year, we will also be working with the WFGA to deliver skills days at West Horsley Place for other WRAGS trainees.”

We caught up with Lizzie to hear her thoughts on her new adventure,

“I am really looking forward to spending the next year at West Horsley Place, working alongside Nicky and all the wonderful volunteers who bring so much of their own experience to the gardens. I was secretly hoping to land somewhere special, but West Horsley Place goes beyond every expectation. It will be such a privilege to work in the gardens, showing them off to their full potential and planning for the future. It will be an exciting year of creativity, hard work and much learning!”

Director, Ben Pearce,

“Our vision is that West Horsley Place will provide an inclusive place for people from a range of backgrounds to join in, be creative, and flourish, whether they are enjoying the quiet calm of the house or learning a new skill.  From horticulture to crafts, we are committed to creating a new type of historic experience. We are delighted to welcome Lizzie to West Horsley Place and I want to give our collective thanks to WRAGs for this support.”

At our recent AGM, our members voted on a proposal for a new ‘working name’ for the WFGA.

We are now the Working for Gardeners Association … cleverly keeping our beloved WFGA in place and are still very much ‘Advancing Horticulture – Changing Lives’

Our uniqueness remains in place, offering opportunities to everyone wanting to understand more about horticulture & rural skills, expand gardening knowledge & networks, as well as members access to a possible change of career through our Work & Retrain as a Gardener Scheme (WRAGs)

Our traditional formal name The Womens Farm & Garden Association will not be forgotten. We will continue to respect our heritage and history. But this change reflects the 21stC and our place in the horticultural world.

As well as this, we have also updated our ‘Articles of Association’ to comply with all the latest Charity Commission regulations.

Information and AGM discussion and Minutes are all available to members on our website forum.

The WFGA would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP for their ongoing advice and guidance in these legal processes. We were hugely grateful for their support.