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Arroll Winning receives the RHS Harlow Carr Medal

Arroll started his career in Ayrshire at the West of Scotland Agricultural College where he gained a Diploma in Horticulture and went on to teach there as a Further Education Lecturer for 2 years. From 1948 to1951 he was the Assistant Superintendant of Parks in Kilmarnock and completed the NDH in both general and parks horticulture. In 1952 he received a Diploma from the Institute of Parks and Recreation Administration (IPRA). He was Assistant Superintendent for Ayr for a year before heading south to work as Deputy Parks Superintendent in Warrington. In 1960 it was back to Aberdeen as Director of Parks. Finally he moved to Sheffield in 1967 as Parks and Cemeteries Manager. In 1969 Arroll became the Director for the Recreation Department, responsible for the city’s parks, cemeteries, swimming pools, sports halls and playing fields. During his career he worked on many committees and was a Horticultural Education Association Examiner for the Royal Forestry Society, The Royal Horticultural Society and the Institute of Parks and Recreation Administration.

Arroll took early retirement from the council in 1984, but that year he and Don Williams hatched the idea for the Friends of the Botanical Gardens (FOBS); he was its Chairman for the first ten years. During those years he consolidated the society, providing an unending supply of ideas and contacts for programmes, lectures, etc. and laying the foundations for FOBS volunteers to start work in the Gardens at the end of 1993. Ill health caused him to lay down the Chairman’s responsibilities, but he continued to supervise practical work in the Gardens until very recently. His knowledge of plants and of the Gardens is encyclopaedic and his contributions to the various committees involved with the Lottery-funded restoration were absolutely essential. In November 2006, Arroll was honoured with the first Robert Marnock award, a distinction inaugurated by FOBS, in recognition of his contribution to the Friends, to the Gardens and to horticulture generally.