A Year at Kew: The Garden Guru in Horticultural Paradise.

I’m leaving, in fact by the time this goes to print I will be settled in to my new digs or as the British say ‘flat’ in Brighton, England. No I have not escaped Canada completely, only for a year. This I consider to be my mid-life crisis and not being able to afford a sports car I am off doing what all middle aged college faculty do; I am on sabbatical.

The very word sabbatical is interesting and not being sure what it meant I turned to Mister Oxford (being British I have to use Oxford as opposed to Webster) for an explanation. Realizing that my edition of Oxford is a little out of date (1934) it tells me that a sabbatical is “the seventh year in which Israelites were to cease tilling and release debtors and Israelite slaves”. Since I am not an Israelite and slavery was abolished many years ago there are only two options left to me. However I did offer my dog his freedom. He preferred going to the resort however where he has two home cooked meals a warm bed and rides in the golf cart. Thus the two remaining items according to Oxfords definition of a sabbatical are the debts and rest. Since I owe money I now ask my creditors for forgiveness, I wonder if the bank will pay the mortgage in my absence; I doubt the bank is as understanding as the Israelites.

The only option left open to me then is a rest (the cease tilling part which is quite appropriate for a horticulturist), remember the word rest. Fanshawe College allows a select number of faculty after a tenure of nine years to take a professional leave at partial salary; hence the term sabbatical. Who changed the week into nine days I don’t know but alas that is how modern society works.

My year of ‘rest’ will see me on the other side of the blackboard so to speak as I return to the classroom as a student. It is a little known fact that the worst students are teachers, we quiver at the thought of tests and assignments, term papers and exams cause anxiety attacks and we rebel at that 8:00 am lecture especially when we feel we can do a much better job.

That said I will spend the year completing an MSc in Plant Conservation (seed banking) hence the term sabbatical and rest again.

However, there is that old cliché ‘a change is as good as a rest’ and my change will be quite dramatic. Going from teacher to student will present a huge challenge. I have new admiration and respect for those ‘mature students’ in my own classroom who return to college with such enthusiasm and dedication.

The big change will be however where I am resting, not England specifically since I was born and raised there but the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Wakehurst. If you’re a horticulturist worth your salt you know about Kew and if your the passionate dedicated plant nut you’ve like me put a proviso in your will that your ashes will be scattered in the Rhododendron plantings (quite illegal I’m sure so it must be done covertly) at Kew. Kew is the centre of the universe for plants and plants people, it is for a horticulturist what a trip to the moon is for an astronaut. Thus even though I will be back at school working hard I will in fact be resting.

I promised my editor Jill Worthington (London Free Press) whom I call the comma remover ( she is trying to break my of my bad habit of using too many commas) that I would give periodic updates of the English gardening scene and the trials and tribulations of “ being on the other side of the blackboard”. So, look forward to more drivel from the Garden Guru on the other side of the pond.

You can visit the course website: http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/gradstudies/pc/ which has links to Kew and the millennium seedbank.

Before I Go


As I get ready to leave Canada and Fanshawe College for the year, I thought I would share the orientation schedule that I will be particpating in over the later part of October.

SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES
Induction Timetable for New Postgraduate Students 2006

Saturday 23rd to Wednesday 27th September
Time
Event
Place
All day
Postgraduate Students arriving (UK and International)


Wednesday 27th September
Time
Event
Place
2pm onwards
Registration for New International Postgraduate Students (overseas and EU) in Life Sciences

Bramber House Level 1
Thursday 28th September
Time
Event
Place
9.30am - 11.00am
International Office Postgraduate Talk
Important – All international Postgraduate Students must go to this session
Gardner Arts Centre

Friday 29th September
Time
Event
Place
9.30am - 10.30am
University Welcome and Introduction to Support Services for Life Sciences
(Introductory talks from the VC, PVC, Computing Service, Career Development and Employment Centre and USSU)
Gardner Arts Centre
10.30am - 11.00am
Postgraduate Library Talk for Life Science
Gardner Arts Centre

11.30am -12.45pm
IT Session for Life Science Postgraduates
Pevensey 1 Foyer

Monday 2nd October
Time
Event
Place
9.15 – 12.30
Registration for New Full Time Postgraduates
(if not completed online)
Bramber House Level 1

IMPORTANT All new MSc and Research Postgraduate Students
to attend the following the School based Welcome/Induction sessions
2.00pm
Life Science School Welcome/Induction Afternoon

Welcome by Prof Jonathan Bacon (Dean of Life Sciences)
JMS Lecture Theatre

2.30pm
MSc Students meet programme Convenors
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psychology MSc students
Departmental Talk followed by meeting with programme Convenors
To be advised
------------------
Pevensey 1 1B3

To be advised
2.30pm
Research Students Talk
Director of Graduate Studies, Prof Andy Smith
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Followed by meeting with
Departmental Research Degree Convenors
JMS Lecture Theatre
----------------
To be advised
Following on from MSc and Research meetings
School of Life Sciences Welcome Party
Locations to be confirmed

Tuesday 3rd October
Time
Event
Place
9.15am - 1.30pm
only
Registration for all Full Time Postgraduates
who have not yet completed registration at previous sessions or online
Bramber House Level 1
Wednesday 4th October
Time
Event
Place
2.00 – 3.00pm
Associate Tutors Session (Research Students only)
JMS Lecture Theatre

3.00 – 4.30pm
Laboratory Health and Safety Induction
(by School Safety Advisor Sandra Laugharne)
You must attend this session

JMS Lecture Theatre



Friday 6th October
Time
Event
Place

Late registration
Final catchup of all unregistered students
Student Accounts Office
Sussex House
Tuesday 10th October
Time
Event
Place
10.00am – 4.00 pm
Radiation Training

Compulsory for
MSc students on the following programmes
• Plant Conservation (Seed Banking),
• Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Cell Biology
• Developmental Cell Biology
• Cell and Molecular Neuroscience

To be confirmed
Monday 16th October
Time
Event
Place
9.00am – 10.00am
Plagiarism Awareness and Study Skills - Dr Lynne Mayne
All new MSc Students to attend
Pevensey 1 1A6
Monday 16th October
Time
Event
Place
10.00 am – 4.00pm
Radiation Training
Compulsory for
DPhil /MPhil Students in Biology and Biochemistry
To be confirmed