Speakers
2012 SPEAKERSHelen Dillon Helen Dillon is considered one of the most perceptive gardeners of our time. She has lived in Ireland for the past thirty eight years and her garden in Sandford Road, Dublin, www.dillongarden.com has featured in magazines worldwide. A respected author, journalist, broadcaster and garden consultant, Helen has travelled to Nepal, Patagonia, New Zealand, Africa and China on plant expeditions. In 1999, Helen was awarded the Gold Veitch Memorial Medal of the the Royal Horticultural Society in England and in 2003, the George Robert White Medal of Honour of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. In 2004, she was made a Distinguished Counsellor to the Board of the New York Botanical Garden.
Diarmuid Gavin Diarmuid Gavin is acknowledged as a most innovative and original garden designer. He was twice awarded the Dublin RDS Gold Medal for garden design in the 1990s. As well as winning Bronze and Silver-gilt medals in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, he won the Chelsea Gold Medal for his Sky Garden design in 2011 at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. In 2007 Diarmuid was awarded an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of his international reputation for garden design. His TV work includes many series for RTE and the BBC: 'Home Front in the Garden', 'Gardens Through Time', 'Art in the Garden' and he has co-presented the Chelsea Flower Show with Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh. As well as being the author of eight books on gardening, Diarmuid is a patron of many charities including 'The Rose Project' which supports AIDS sufferers in Africa. Further information can be viewed on Diarmuid Gavin Designs www.diarmuidgavindesigns.co.uk JOY LARKCOM Joy Larkcom has been growing and writing about vegetables for more than forty years and is considered one of the world's leading experts. Her work has been deeply influenced by travels in Europe, China, Japan, Canada and the USA, searching for new edible plants and cultivation techniques. With the help of her husband, Don Pollard, this has led to the introduction of many exciting salad plants and oriental vegetables. Joy is a well-known author, journalist and lecturer and she has taken part in many radio and TV broadcasts in both Ireland and England. Her books include 'Creative Vegetable Gardening' , 'Oriental Vegetables', 'Salads for Small Gardens', 'The Organic Salad Garden', the classics' Grow your Own Vegetables' and 'The Vegetable Garden Displayed'. Joy won the Garden Writer of the Year award three times and in 1993 she was awarded the prestigious Veitch Memorial Medal for services to horticulture. In 2003 she was presented with the Garden Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. He book 'Just Vegetating: A Memoir' is due out in May, 2012. 2011 Speakers' Timetable:
Mr. Gordon D'Arcy, Naturalist, Hatural Heritage Expert and Author.
Dr. John Feehan:Dr. John Feehan is Senior Lecturer in The School of Agriculture, Food Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin. He has written extensively on Ireland’s environmental history and heritage.He is author of numerous books including: ‘The Landscape of Slieve Bloom: A Study of Its Natural and Human History’, ‘Laois: An Environmental History’, ‘Climate Variation and Climate Change in Ireland’, ‘My Village, My World’, ‘The Bogs of Ireland: An Introduction to the Natural, Cultural and Industrial Heritage of Ireland’s Peatlands’. His book ‘Farming in Ireland: History, Heritage and Environment’ was published to great acclaim. Dr. Feehan has also co authored many books including ‘The Magic of Coole’ and ‘Wildflowers of Offaly’ which was written with Grace O’ Donovan. He is the recipient of many awards for environmental work and for Television work. Dr. Matthew Jebb:Dr. Matthew Jebb is Director of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland and has been Keeper of the Herbarium and Taxonomist of the Gardens since 1998. He gained his primary degree at Oxford University, where he also did his Ph.D. He was Director of the Christiansen Research Institute, Papua, New Guinea from 1987-1993. He was a post-doctoral researcher at Trinity College, Dublin. In 2005, he was nominated by Ireland as the European vice-president on the bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Convention is one of the United Nations Environmental Program's most significant bodies for the conservation of nature at a global scale. He is currently Chairman of Planetnetwork, the Plant Collections Network of Britain and Ireland. He is also Chair of the Praeger Committee of the Royal Irish Academy. Dr. Anna Jeffrey-Gibson:Comming from a long line of botanists and gardeners Anna was brought up in Dublin. She graduated from T.C.D. with a science degree before moving to Galway in 1987 to persue a PhD in Geology. Always interested in plants – especially eadable ones – foraging for wild food and growing fruit and veg has always been an essential passion. Married to Ivan and living and farming in Kinvara Co. Galway life revolves around helping Ivan to build a house, farm an Aberdeen Angus suckler herd, establish a garden and orchard, keep chickens, ducks, donkeys, ponies, dogs and cats and teach part-time - ecology and geography to school students and as a tutor with Kinvara Sustainable Living. She is also a very keen cook and general foodie specialising in local and seasonal food, especially home grown or foraged produce. Kinvara Sustainable Living was founded jointly by Anna and Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar with the mission statement ‘to encourage small scale food production’ – as a horticultural outreach, based in Kinvara they run winter and spring evening courses in fruit and veg growing and day and weekend classes on diverse aspects of small scale food production – www.kinvarasustainableliving.com. Niall Mac CoitirNiall Mac Coitir grew up in Dublin in a bilingual environment with a love of Irish culture, history and nature. He has read widely on these subjects and began writing about the folklore of Irish nature and wildlife. Since graduating from University College Dublin, he has worked in Fingal County Council. His published books include Irish Trees: Myths, Legends and Folklore, (2003); Irish Wild Plants: Myths, Legends and Folklore, (2006); and Ireland’s Animals: Myths, Legends and Folklore, (2010), all by Collins Press. Mr. Paul Price:Paul Price made the oak roof and screen of the Great Hall and Middle Chamber at Claregalway Castle. He has solo carpentered many new jointed and pegged frames Irish oak for new houses and gardens as well as roofs and other works for four castles in Ireland and he has done conservation repairs to many historic buildings (cathedrals, barns, churches, and houses). He worked in England and Scotland, as lead carpenter on many projects including a house featured on Channel 4’s ‘Grand Designs’, and the oak screen at Stirling Castle in Scotland. His international traditional framing projects include: the Covered Bridge, Guelph, Ontario, the Trebuchets at Loch Ness and medieval loft and log buildings in Norway. He has taught traditional carpentry - building frames with no power tools.He also contributes to the North American and UK traditional timber framing journals. He co-founded "The Mortice and Tenon", the UK journal of traditional timberwork and lectures on historic timber building conservation and repair, as part of the Applied Building Repair and Conservation Masters Course at Trinity College, Dublin. Prof. Oliver Rackham OBE:Prof. Oliver Rackham OBE is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. He is the Keeper of the College Silver. In 1998, Prof. Rackham was awarded an OBE " for services to Nature Conservation" and in 2001, he was awarded the Peter Scott Memorial Medal. He was appointed the Honorary Professor of Historical Ecology in the Department of Plant Sciences, in the University of Cambridge.
Dr. Cilliian Roden, Botanist and Ecologist.Dr Cillian Roden is a local botanist who has written many journal articles on the flora of the Burren. He has a diversity of interest and research experience of many areas of ecology. Thomas Pakenham:Thomas Pakenham is a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford University. He is an Irish historian and arborist and has written several prize-winning books on diverse subjects of Victorian and Post-Victorian British history, on Irish history, on African history and on Trees. He is author of the acclaimed book 'The Scramble for Africa' and also of 'The Mountains of Rasselas: Ethiopian Adventure', The Year of Liberty: The History of the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798, 'The Boer War', 'Meetings With Remarkable Trees', 'Remarkable Trees of the World' and of 'The Remarkable Baobab'. Prof. William Smyth:"William J Smyth is Professor Emeritus of Geography at University College Cork, where he held the Chair of Geography since 1977 . He has lectured at many universities, including Syracuse University, N.Y., California State at san Fernando, Los Angeles and University College Dublin . He was elected a member of The Royal Irish Academy in 1999.
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