Historic hybrid presented to retiring Rector
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
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To mark Professor Alan Livingston's recent retirement from the post of Rector at University College Falmouth and his contribution to the establishment of the Tremough Campus in Penryn, the Tremough Campus Services (TCS) Board that oversees the running of the Campus has presented him with a rhododendron called The Beauty of Tremough.
Professor Livingston was invited to plant the rhododendron at a recent ceremony at the Campus, which also involved the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the occasion.
The Beauty of Tremough is a hybrid rhododendron that was developed by Richard Gill in 1893. Gill, who was the head gardener at Tremough when it was owned by Mr Shilson, was responsible for a number of the rhododendrons that were produced on the estate. The Beauty of Tremough was a popular hybrid and plants were sent all over the world, including New Zealand and North America. It was also awarded a Royal Horticultural Society Medal in 1902 at Kew Gardens.
As this strain of rhododendron ages and as it is also a hybrid, it is not possible to take cuttings or grow more plants from seed. It was therefore in decline, with no way of propagating more. However, Ros Smith at Duchy College has worked over a number of years to develop a method of micropropagation that has now successfully yielded its first batch of the Beauty of Tremough. The process involves taking a single bud, preparing it thoroughly and placing it in a suitable growing medium in a sterile beaker. Each dish can yield up to 50 plants and it then takes a number of years to develop each specimen into a plant of the size that was presented to Professor Livingston.
"The application of a scientific approach to producing and preserving this historic and beautiful hybrid is symbolic of the ethos of the Tremough Campus, and is a fitting way to celebrate the contribution that Alan has made here," commented the University of Exeter's Registrar and Deputy Chief Executive, David Allen, who is Chair of the TCS Board.
For further information about University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 213730.
University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.
This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/2013 that will be unique to the South West.
The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.
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