Celebrating 50 Years of the Friends of Ness Gardens
In the autumn of 1962, following a visit to a botanic garden in
Germany, the then Director of the Gardens, Ken Hulme, suggested
that such an organisation could be established for the development
ofNessBotanic Garden.
Over the 50 years of the Society's history much of how the
Gardens now looks have been down to the financial support which the
Friends have provided - currently amounting to over £2.1
million.
The first major project supported was The Terraces which are
currently being redeveloped, again with a grant from the Friends,
as well as many of the key planting areas in the Gardens, such as
the rhododendron walk alongside the Pine Wood. When the
original Friends Reading Room became too small for the increasing
numbers of visitors, the Society acted as a vehicle to raise funds
in 1980/81 to develop a purpose built Audio/Visual building which
has since grown into the Horsfall Rushby Visitor Centre.
The Gardens has continued to develop since it was gifted in 1948
to the University of Liverpool by the daughter of its original
owner, Arthur Kilpin Bulley, as has the Friends Society since its
establishment in 1962. The Friends of Ness Gardens, with over
7,000 members, are an important element of Ness Botanic Gardens and
we look forward to a celebratory Golden Anniversary year in
2012.