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UK SCHOOL TO SHARE ORCHID PROJECT WITH SOUTH AFRICA

An English school which is a leader in the field of orchid growing will visit South Africa next month to share their expertise with Cape schools and showcase their achievements to the public.

The Writhlington School in England will bring six of their students, all leaders in the field of raising orchids from seed, to the Cape Town Flower & Garden Show being held at Lourensford Wine Estate from Thursday 25 October to Sunday 28 October. They will also visit poorer schools in Cape Town and surrounds to share their skills and knowledge in turning orchid growing into a profitable business for their school.

The Writhlington School Orchid Project has been described as a world leader in Orchid Conservation, where science, enterprise and conservation has been combined to enable school pupils to have a global impact while developing high quality scientific skills and qualifications. Through the sale of the plants they propagate they also raise much-needed funds for their school.

Writhlington's exhibit at the Cape Town Flower & Garden Show will uniquely consist of a working orchid propagations laboratory which will be donated to one of the schools they visit, on their departure. As a further contribution they have offered to sell the orchid seedlings propagated on behalf of the selected school at the London Orchid Fair.

The students will be supported by Simon Pugh-Jones an authority in orchid conservation who is responsible for the school's Orchid Project. He has been teaching at Writhlington, a state secondary school with 1200 pupils aged between 11 and 18, for eighteen years. Simon is an authority in orchid conservation and is responsible for the school's Orchid Project which he has now established both nationally and internationally with a productive Orchid propagation laboratory supported by an important orchid collection. Simon will be assisted by Demitri Benfield another Writhlington Science teacher who is an experienced wildlife enthusiast.

Writhlington School students work with groups in Guatemala, Sikkim (India), Laos and Costa Rica on ground breaking conservation initiatives as well as with leading institutions and commercial organisations in the UK that include Kew Gardens and The Royal Horticultural.

While in South Africa the group looks forward to sharing their experience with visitors to the Cape Town Flower & Garden Show, working with South African students to help set up orchid science and conservation in local schools and carrying out research at the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve which is owned and run by Cape Nature. Cape Nature have generously provided accommodation for the duration of their visit.