Latest news with #JoePerkins
The Independent
09-07-2025
- The Independent
Grade I listed landscape gets ‘garden for the future' in face of climate change
An 'overlooked' corner of a Grade I listed landscape has been turned into a garden that will test plants' resilience to climate change, the National Trust said. The new 'garden for the future' in Sheffield Park and Garden, East Sussex, is the first major refresh in the historic landscape influenced by the likes of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton, since it was acquired by the conservation charity in 1954. The National Trust said the new planting, designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winning designer Joe Perkins, would follow in the tradition of Sheffield Park and Garden's history as a place of new landscape design and experimental planting. The new garden for the future occupies a half-an-acre corner previously used for propagation of plants, with planting from around the world to showcase to visitors how plants can adapt to different environments. It will also support succession planting plans and future garden developments, the National Trust said as it grapples with the impacts of climate change such as hotter, drier summers and more extreme weather events on its gardens. The trust said significant specimens in the collection at Sheffield Park have suffered with extremes in temperature and rainfall in recent years, and some are nearing the end of their natural life. The new site harks back to Arthur Gilstrap Soames who indulged his passion for horticulture in the 120-acre garden more than a century ago with innovate and bold colour schemes, new plant hybrids and experimental planting of species from around the world. Head gardener Jodie Hilton said: 'The new garden provides an opportunity to engage visitors with a different style of planting, adapted to a different climate and planting environment, than they might see in the rest of the landscape at Sheffield Park, while taking inspiration from the garden surrounding it. 'We hope visitors will take a moment to pause and reflect in nature, in a corner of the landscape that was often overlooked until now.' The new garden includes a dry exotic area planted mostly in raised beds to allow the use of species from sub-alpine habitats of parts of Tasmania, New Zealand, central and southern Chile and southern Argentina. A second area focuses more on southern hemisphere temperate forest, inspired by the mid-altitude hill forests of central Chile and Argentina, with many species originating from the 'Gondwanan' supercontinent which once linked Australasia with South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. And a final area focuses on temperate woodland in a space mostly under the existing tree canopy, with ground covering ferns, shade-tolerant grasses and perennial forget-me-not, along with woodland shrubs such as azalea, the trust said. Once the plants are established, the team behind the garden will begin to test tolerance to drought and extreme temperatures, with planting in raised beds enabling the testing of exotic species and resilience to drier soils. Mr Perkins said resilience was a 'core principle' of the planting scheme. 'Early on, we identified the need for plants which can tolerate both extended periods of drought, and potentially heat, as well as cold winter temperatures. 'We've created different planting habitats which will allow the team to explore plants from around the world that could be better adapted to future conditions. 'From drier raised beds to shadier, wetter woodland planting, we're continuing with Arthur Soames' experimental approach as we tackle the challenges and opportunities that climate change is predicted to bring us,' he said. Sheila Das, National Trust head of gardens and parks, said: 'The team at Sheffield Park are bringing huge energy to an already stunning landscape. 'Our gardens never sit still so, to keep enjoying the garden's beauty into the future, we must constantly experiment. She added: 'In the wider garden, the team are looking into how the planting can be adapted for the future and in the garden for the future, visitors can enjoy a brand-new concept that sits well in the landscape but brings something new and inspiring.'
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Yahoo
Grade I listed landscape gets ‘garden for the future' in face of climate change
An 'overlooked' corner of a Grade I listed landscape has been turned into a garden that will test plants' resilience to climate change, the National Trust said. The new 'garden for the future' in Sheffield Park and Garden, East Sussex, is the first major refresh in the historic landscape influenced by the likes of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton, since it was acquired by the conservation charity in 1954. The National Trust said the new planting, designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winning designer Joe Perkins, would follow in the tradition of Sheffield Park and Garden's history as a place of new landscape design and experimental planting. The new garden for the future occupies a half-an-acre corner previously used for propagation of plants, with planting from around the world to showcase to visitors how plants can adapt to different environments. It will also support succession planting plans and future garden developments, the National Trust said as it grapples with the impacts of climate change such as hotter, drier summers and more extreme weather events on its gardens. The trust said significant specimens in the collection at Sheffield Park have suffered with extremes in temperature and rainfall in recent years, and some are nearing the end of their natural life. The new site harks back to Arthur Gilstrap Soames who indulged his passion for horticulture in the 120-acre garden more than a century ago with innovate and bold colour schemes, new plant hybrids and experimental planting of species from around the world. Head gardener Jodie Hilton said: 'The new garden provides an opportunity to engage visitors with a different style of planting, adapted to a different climate and planting environment, than they might see in the rest of the landscape at Sheffield Park, while taking inspiration from the garden surrounding it. 'We hope visitors will take a moment to pause and reflect in nature, in a corner of the landscape that was often overlooked until now.' The new garden includes a dry exotic area planted mostly in raised beds to allow the use of species from sub-alpine habitats of parts of Tasmania, New Zealand, central and southern Chile and southern Argentina. A second area focuses more on southern hemisphere temperate forest, inspired by the mid-altitude hill forests of central Chile and Argentina, with many species originating from the 'Gondwanan' supercontinent which once linked Australasia with South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. And a final area focuses on temperate woodland in a space mostly under the existing tree canopy, with ground covering ferns, shade-tolerant grasses and perennial forget-me-not, along with woodland shrubs such as azalea, the trust said. Once the plants are established, the team behind the garden will begin to test tolerance to drought and extreme temperatures, with planting in raised beds enabling the testing of exotic species and resilience to drier soils. Mr Perkins said resilience was a 'core principle' of the planting scheme. 'Early on, we identified the need for plants which can tolerate both extended periods of drought, and potentially heat, as well as cold winter temperatures. 'We've created different planting habitats which will allow the team to explore plants from around the world that could be better adapted to future conditions. 'From drier raised beds to shadier, wetter woodland planting, we're continuing with Arthur Soames' experimental approach as we tackle the challenges and opportunities that climate change is predicted to bring us,' he said. Sheila Das, National Trust head of gardens and parks, said: 'The team at Sheffield Park are bringing huge energy to an already stunning landscape. 'Our gardens never sit still so, to keep enjoying the garden's beauty into the future, we must constantly experiment. She added: 'In the wider garden, the team are looking into how the planting can be adapted for the future and in the garden for the future, visitors can enjoy a brand-new concept that sits well in the landscape but brings something new and inspiring.'
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Carl Junction Fire Protection District faces rising costs and calls, decreasing volunteers
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The Carl Junction Fire Protection District is feeling the fallout of the national volunteer firefighter shortage while at the same time facing higher call volumes and rising equipment costs. The district's coverage area is about 74 square miles, from the Joplin city limits, north to Asbury, and the state line to Missouri Highway 43. 'To put it into context, we are busier than the single busiest fire station in Joplin,' said fire Chief Joe Perkins. 'We outrun Joplin Fire Station No. 3 by about 30 or 40 calls.' Volunteers comprise 65% of firefighters in the United States, according to data from the National Volunteer Fire Council. Small and midsize communities rely heavily on volunteer firefighters. When Perkins first joined the department in 1998, there were more than 60 volunteers on the roster and no paid personnel. In 2005, he was one of the first three full-time firefighters hired in Carl Junction. He became captain, assistant chief, then fire chief in 2015. Today, the Carl Junction Fire Protection District has 18 volunteer firefighters. Last year, it had 24 volunteers. The district currently has 12 full-time firefighters on staff and operates four fire stations. 'It got to a point where we had to augment because we don't have the same amount of volunteers,' said Perkins. 'Now, each shift has three people and we augment that with a PRN (as-needed) guy who works 10 to 12 hours during the day.' An increase in annual calls has also been affecting the district's equipment and the amount of coverage limited staff can provide. In 2018, the district responded to a total of 275 calls. In 2019, there were a total of 1,725 calls. Perkins said their calls now average about 2,500 annually. Rising equipment costs due to inflation and supply shortages from the COVID-19 pandemic have also caused budget constraints for the district. Perkins said they've had to get more creative with equipment and have even remounted tankers to save money. 'We have two trucks where we remounted current tankers and basically put the same tank and pump on a new chassis,' said Perkins. 'This saved us roughly about $190,000 for those vehicles individually, nearly $400,000 total.' The Carl Junction Fire Protection District's budget is fueled by a tax levy and operates independently from the city. With these ongoing challenges, Perkins said they may have to explore other ways to generate additional revenue for the district, such as placing a bond issue on the April 2026 ballot. 'Fire protection districts in Missouri are funded primarily through property taxes,' said Perkins. 'We're not growing the same way that some of these bigger cities have been. We have to adapt.'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
British schools are teaching young boys to aim low
Some of the gardens which were on display at Chelsea Flower Show last week will now be en route to schools and colleges around the country. One of them will live at Uxbridge College, based in a London borough ranked one of the worst for education. I should know, given that I went to school in the area. The theme of the garden now zooming its way to Zone 6 is one of resilience, with seeds sprouting up through difficult conditions. Sponsored by the King's Trust, designer Joe Perkins has said his garden represents optimism and hope for the future. It's a great project, but let's not forget that Britain's state education system can be just as inhospitable for young people as the hardy soil these seeds are sprouting from. And it can be a particularly harsh place for boys. The challenges are widespread. For a start, boys are much more likely to have identified special educational needs than girls (22pc compared to 12pc, according to official data) and so many will not be getting enough social or educational support in large classrooms. Boys are also far less likely to go on to higher education (40pc of boys compared to 54pc of girls), particularly if they are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Only 13pc of white British boys eligible for free school meals go on to progress to higher education compared to 23pc of girls who are. Girls do better across all headline Department for Education (DfE) measures than boys, who are also nearly twice as likely as girls to be suspended and more than twice as likely to be permanently excluded. Even before high-school, the chasm is clear – by the end of reception, at around the age of five, just less than two thirds of boys are said to have a 'good level of development' compared to three quarters of girls. The problems are clear, yet still the issue persists. Generation after generation, British schools are teaching young boys to aim low. Boys' behaviour and influences are now 'a defining issue of our time', Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said in a speech last month. Her words echoed a similar sentiment from Sir Gareth Southgate who used to encourage his players to discuss their emotions during his time as England manager. One male high school teacher tells me he's trying to encourage male students in his school to open up with each other more and recognise that there's more than one way to be considered 'masculine'. He's concerned that a 'laddy, sports teacher stereotype still survives', mirroring a dynamic which replicates into wider society as boys struggle to find vulnerable but strong versions of masculinity. The absence of male role models in the classroom is an urgent issue – the proportion of secondary school teachers who are male is now at its lowest proportion since records began. As the Education Secretary has pointed out, just one in four teachers in UK schools are men (and only one in seven at nursery and primary school level). In her speech, Ms Phillipson highlighted that while the number of teachers in the country has increased by 28,000 since 2010, just 533 are male. That's a big problem given that there is evidence that pupils have higher learning outcomes when they have 'a teacher like me' in the classroom. The fix won't just be filling classrooms with more men, but making sure that those men show an active interest in inspiring those who might otherwise be left behind. The maths teacher I spoke to says one idea could be to 'actively involve more boys in some of the things we've shoved down into primary school – in play, to some extent, and socialising in a way which is not purely competitive and activity-based'. But where are all the male teachers? Experts have blamed the decline on men in the staffroom on a perception that teaching is a lower status job with low earning potential. I've certainly spoken to men who admit that they are tempted to sack off teaching for a better-paid life with shorter hours. And as men abandon the profession, boys are left searching for someone to look up to. This is a particular issue for boys growing up in single-parent households. Some 2.5 million children in Britain have no father figure at home, according to the Centre for Social Justice. Amid rising concerns that a lack of real-life male role models could lead boys towards toxic online influences (more than half of schools and colleges in England are concerned about online safety) there is a drastic need for change. A recent report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute said a 'boy-positive' learning environment needed to be developed in schools, warning that under-educated men could veer towards political extremes. Yet despite rising concerns about male under-achievement, ministers have rejected calls to introduce a minister for men and boys. There's no doubt that the UK's current epidemic of youth unemployment starts in the classroom. A report by charity Impetus showed last week that young people from underprivileged backgrounds are 66pc more likely not to be in education, employment or training (Neet) than average. The issues have grown far worse since the Covid crisis, with the number of 16-24-year-old male Neets up 40pc since Covid, compared to just 7pc among women. Our education system, and with it the culture of low expectations for male students, is in need of a shake-up. As British men give up on work faster than anywhere else in the richest parts of the world, the seeds being sown at school must not be ignored. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
26-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
British schools are teaching young boys to aim low
Some of the gardens which were on display at Chelsea Flower Show last week will now be en route to schools and colleges around the country. One of them will live at Uxbridge College, based in a London borough ranked one of the worst for education. I should know, given that I went to school in the area. The theme of the garden now zooming its way to Zone 6 is one of resilience, with seeds sprouting up through difficult conditions. Sponsored by the King's Trust, designer Joe Perkins has said his garden represents optimism and hope for the future. It's a great project, but let's not forget that Britain's state education system can be just as inhospitable for young people as the hardy soil these seeds are sprouting from. And it can be a particularly harsh place for boys. The challenges are widespread. For a start, boys are much more likely to have identified special educational needs than girls (22pc compared to 12pc, according to official data) and so many will not be getting enough social or educational support in large classrooms. Boys are also far less likely to go on to higher education (40pc of boys compared to 54pc of girls), particularly if they are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Only 13pc of white British boys eligible for free school meals go on to progress to higher education compared to 23pc of girls who are. Girls do better across all headline Department for Education (DfE) measures than boys, who are also nearly twice as likely as girls to be suspended and more than twice as likely to be permanently excluded. Even before high-school, the chasm is clear – by the end of reception, at around the age of five, just less than two thirds of boys are said to have a 'good level of development' compared to three quarters of girls. The problems are clear, yet still the issue persists. Generation after generation, British schools are teaching young boys to aim low. Boys' behaviour and influences are now 'a defining issue of our time', Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said in a speech last month. Her words echoed a similar sentiment from Sir Gareth Southgate who used to encourage his players to discuss their emotions during his time as England manager. One male high school teacher tells me he's trying to encourage male students in his school to open up with each other more and recognise that there's more than one way to be considered 'masculine'. He's concerned that a 'laddy, sports teacher stereotype still survives', mirroring a dynamic which replicates into wider society as boys struggle to find vulnerable but strong versions of masculinity. The absence of male role models in the classroom is an urgent issue – the proportion of secondary school teachers who are male is now at its lowest proportion since records began. As the Education Secretary has pointed out, just one in four teachers in UK schools are men (and only one in seven at nursery and primary school level). In her speech, Ms Phillipson highlighted that while the number of teachers in the country has increased by 28,000 since 2010, just 533 are male. That's a big problem given that there is evidence that pupils have higher learning outcomes when they have 'a teacher like me' in the classroom. The fix won't just be filling classrooms with more men, but making sure that those men show an active interest in inspiring those who might otherwise be left behind. The maths teacher I spoke to says one idea could be to 'actively involve more boys in some of the things we've shoved down into primary school – in play, to some extent, and socialising in a way which is not purely competitive and activity-based'. But where are all the male teachers? Experts have blamed the decline on men in the staffroom on a perception that teaching is a lower status job with low earning potential. I've certainly spoken to men who admit that they are tempted to sack off teaching for a better-paid life with shorter hours. And as men abandon the profession, boys are left searching for someone to look up to. This is a particular issue for boys growing up in single-parent households. Some 2.5 million children in Britain have no father figure at home, according to the Centre for Social Justice. Amid rising concerns that a lack of real-life male role models could lead boys towards toxic online influences (more than half of schools and colleges in England are concerned about online safety) there is a drastic need for change. A recent report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute said a 'boy-positive' learning environment needed to be developed in schools, warning that under-educated men could veer towards political extremes. Yet despite rising concerns about male under-achievement, ministers have rejected calls to introduce a minister for men and boys. There's no doubt that the UK's current epidemic of youth unemployment starts in the classroom. A report by charity Impetus showed last week that young people from underprivileged backgrounds are 66pc more likely not to be in education, employment or training (Neet) than average. The issues have grown far worse since the Covid crisis, with the number of 16-24-year-old male Neets up 40pc since Covid, compared to just 7pc among women. Our education system, and with it the culture of low expectations for male students, is in need of a shake-up. As British men give up on work faster than anywhere else in the richest parts of the world, the seeds being sown at school must not be ignored.
