Graduates and trainees of Capel Manor College between them won five of eight awards at the Worshipful Company of Gardeners annual awards ceremony, an event that took place on Thursday 12 November. The Worshipful Company of Gardeners is one of the City of London’s 108 Livery Companies. Stephen Dowbiggin, Chief Executive of Capel Manor College said, “This achievement by our students is a fantastic advertisement for all the hard work put in by our staff. I am proud to be able to say that I work with them, the students are a real credit to their efforts.”
Previously playing more of a regulatory role the Worshipful Company today serves as a charitable institution, one of its primary objectives is to promote the art and practice of good gardening, and to encourage and support educational establishments that are centres of horticultural excellence. Capel Manor College has been recognised as a centre of vocational excellence for Horticulture, Landscaping and Garden Design, and has been training students for over forty years.
The prestigious awards ceremony was held at the Inner Temple in the City of London. ‘Certificates of excellence’ were presented by His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, to horticultural graduates 17 year old Jack Carnell and 28 year old Johannes Paasch from Capel Manor’s centre in west London, Gunnersbury Park. Johannes and Jack recently won the UK final of the World Skills Intermediate Landscape Gardening competition, which took place at the Saltex exhibition in September.
Johannes said, “I really enjoyed the evening. I have never been to such an impressive event before, where they announce your name as you enter the room! On top of our awards both Jack and I also received a cash prize from the Worshipful Company of Gardeners which is greatly appreciated and will come in very useful.”
Another award winner was David Hedger, who undertook the Foundation Degree in Garden Design course at Capel Manor’s centre in Enfield. Prior to this he had been working in television but quickly established himself as a conscientious and popular student. David demonstrated a real passion for furthering his knowledge of plants during his course and has gone on to prove himself as a talented designer.
The final two award winners were from the Royal Parks Apprenticeship scheme, run in conjunction with Capel Manor College at Regents Park. Jenna Waldron and Rosemary Gray were presented with ‘outstanding Apprentice awards’, Jenna for Year 1 and Rosemary for Year 2. Their tutor Christopher Campling said, “Both students thoroughly deserve their awards. They both demonstrated particularly high levels of commitment to passing their exams and to completing their coursework. On top of this they also made a positive contribution during their work placements.”
