Opening of the Volunteer Centre

On Tuesday 27th May we celebrated the official opening of the Volunteer Centre at Sheffield Botanical Gardens. We were honoured to welcome the new Lord Mayor Safiya Saeed to the Gardens, who presided over the opening ceremony as one of her first engagements in her new role.

The opening combined the annual Volunteer Picnic with the opening of the Centre. The picnic is the celebration of all the incredible work which volunteers undertake for the Gardens such as gardening, education, tours, talks, refreshments, propagation, trips and the work of the FOBS Executive Committee. The new Centre is an important place which can be used by all the volunteers on site to meet, have a break, get information and have inductions.

Speeches for the Opening of the Centre

On the day there were speeches from Miles Stevenson Chair of Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust and Carolyn Clark Chair of the Friends of Botanical Gardens Sheffield. These were followed by an opening address from Lord Mayor Safiya Saeed who spoke about how visiting the Gardens was something she did early on when she arrived as a refugee to the City and how important volunteering is for those who volunteer and for the sites where they volunteer.

You can watch all the speeches and interviews with Safiya, Miles and Carolyn here: New Volunteer Centre opens in Sheffield Botanical Gardens

(all photos and videos kindly taken by Sheffield City Council Comms Team)

FOBS Chair Carolyn Clark and SBGT Chair Miles Stevenson hold the ribbon for Lord Mayor Safiya Saeed at the ribbon cutting for the new Volunteer Centre

Safiya then cut the ribbon to open the new Centre and we had photos. The picnic buffet was provided by Spoilt for Choice Catering and homemade cakes were brought in made by FOBS members who attended the ceremony.

We look for forward to volunteers enjoying the use of the Volunteer Centre as they undertake they important work in Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

Volunteers on the deck of the Dorothy Fox Education Centre