I’m writing this working from home, in line with these difficult times of COVID-19. I hope that you’re all keeping well and managing to find a bit of nature, in a safe way, wherever you are. You won’t be surprised to hear that the SLBI is going to have to close its doors for a …
The South London Botanical Institute (SLBI) has joined organisations around London and the world in declaring a climate emergency. The announcement was made following a meeting of the SLBI’s Board of Trustees on Thursday 6 February 2020. In line with the SLBI’s charitable objects, the organisation has always been committed to sustainable development (meeting the …
Another guest blog as we celebrate ‘Volunteers’ Week’ – a big thank you to all of our volunteers, including Charles, whose experience here has landed him a great job at Manchester airport… Hello! I’m Charles and I’ve volunteered at the SLBI for just over 2 years now – I started in my gap year before …
A guest blog from Pavlos, our Greek intern, who sadly leaves us today……. Monday the 1st of April 9:00 am, I was walking silently towards the front entrance of the South London Botanical Institute to begin my volunteer training. The institute is nothing like the modern more corporate institutes and large corporations that nowadays students …
We’ve just been awarded £86,500 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for our ‘BEST’ project – ‘Botanical Education: Sustainable and Thriving!’ It’s all about improving our future sustainability. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the grant will enable the Institute to increase its fundraising activity and trial new methods of bringing in …
We’re delighted to have received a donation of £120 from Inoculand, a London pest control company. Inoculand wanted to support us as part of their ‘Diversity & Community programme’, approaching us by saying that we were ‘exactly the kind of organisation’ they want to be associated with. They’ve also supported other local organisations including Brixton …
Time flies and amazingly we’ve reached the end of our 2-year ‘Plant Recording for All Ages’ project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund – started way back in May 2016! During this time, we like to think we’ve made big differences “to heritage, for people and for communities”, in line with the HLF’s aims, with …
A report on the SLBI’s botanical exchange visit to the Botanic Garden of Rome The good thing about a botanical exchange is that you have a common language – the language of plant names. So even if there’s confusion between English & Italian – like thinking the airport’s full of cows, when actually it’s full …
2017 – what a fun year it’s been! The botany, the talks, all the things we’ve seen… There’s been walking and talking, Drawing and dyeing, All in a beautiful scene. We had ‘Ask the Wood’ And ‘The Great North Wood’, There were Open Gardens, Rain Gardens, Kitchen Gardens and Glowing Gardens, It was mad but …
So much has happened at the SLBI this year, where do we start? Let’s start with A… Aromatherapy was as popular as ever and this time festive, making beautiful gifts with essential oils. ‘Botany on Your Plate’ was the name of our new project funded by City Bridge Trust, bringing education about food plants to …
