FRIENDS OF OLIVER RACKHAM: UPCOMING EVENTS, WORKS IN
PROGRESS, PAST EVENTS #2. 16 September 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS:
17 October 2015 — Louise Bacon and Jo Burgon write that the inaugural National
Coppicing Day will take place on what would have been Oliver’s 76th
birthday: 17 October 2015. Events are planned at various woods around
Britain. There is a Facebook page for information:
(https://www.facebook.com/coppicedayUK).
13-14 August 2016 — Commemorative symposium in honor of Oliver Rackham at
Corpus Christi College, to be held the weekend of 13-14 August 2016.
If you are interested in attending some or all of this two-day event
please see the formal announcement posted on the Plant Sciences
webpage and fill out the survey indicating your interest by 30
September 2015. www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/seminars/2016-08-13. The
survey will enable an estimate of the number of people interested in
attending, so the events can be planned accordingly.
WORKS IN PROGRESS:
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Oliver's archive —notebooks, papers, slides, photos, etc — is moving to Corpus
Christi College as The Rackham Archive, where it will be under the care of Dr
Lucy Hughes, the college archivist, and eventually accessible to scholars.
If you have a story or memory about Oliver that you would like to contribute to
the Rackham Archive for posterity, please write it up and send it to Dr Lucy
Hughes lcb15@corpus.cam.ac.uk.
Oliver’s herbarium has been relocated to the Cambridge University Herbarium. It
sits alongside the specimens of Darwin and Henslow so is in excellent company.
Photography of the specimens is well underway (over 1000 specimens already).
Those interested in viewing the Herbarium are encouraged to contact Ms Christine
Bartram cb248@cam.ac.uk.
Oliver’s carpentry workshop will be relocated and reassembled at a facility in
Sussex belonging to The Carpenters Fellowship
http://www.carpentersfellowship.co.uk/. We expect this process to commence in
the latter part of 2015.
Oliver's cousin Philippa Sims invites donations in his memory to Wheatfen.
Wheatfen, near Norwich, played a large part in Oliver's early life and, through the
naturalist Ted Ellis, his chosen career. The center is now considered an important
nature reserve and education center. Further details can be found on the website:
http://www.wheatfen.org. Please send your cheques made out to 'The Ted Ellis
Trust' to Philippa Sims at 26C Shotesham Road Poringland Norwich NR14 7LG.
At Oliver's funeral contributions to the Woodland Trust were collected for the
creation of a Rackham memorial. Although the details are still being worked out,
it looks like this will manifest as an annual Rackham lecture, alternating with a
Rackham walk beginning in 2017. If you would still like to contribute to the fund
Friends of Oliver Rackham: Upcoming Events, Works in Progress, Past Events #2. 16 September 2015
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please contact customerservice@woodlanddedication.com, or phone 0330 333
5302.
If you would like to offer your ideas or support with one of the Rackham lectures
or walks, please contact paulakeen@woodlandtrust.org.uk.
Veteran tree dedications to Oliver's memory are being planned in Herefordshire,
Epirus, Crete, Sardinia, and Texas.
PAST EVENTS
August 2015 —
• Lectures for a veteran tree dedication to Oliver in Greveniti, Epirus held 13
August 2015, organized by Dr Kalliopi Stara and her colleagues
July 2015 —
• Profs Charles Watkins and Keith Kirby were finishing the proof checking of
their book, Europe’s Changing Woods and Forests, when they heard the sad
news of Oliver’s death. They managed to get the publishers to add a
dedication to Oliver opposite the title page. It was particularly appropriate
because the book is a follow up to the proceedings from a conference held in
1996 to mark 20 years since the publication of Oliver’s Trees and Woodland
in the British Landscape.
http://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9781780643373
• Prof Gloria Pungetti organized a tribute to Oliver at the 9th IALE
(International Association of Landscape Ecologists) World Congress held in
Portland, Oregon, 5-10 July 2015. “Tribute to Professor Oliver Rackham and
Debate on Biocultural Landscapes”
May 2015 —
• Hay Festival Rackham memorial lecture by Clive Anderson, president of The
Woodland Trust May 29, 2015: https://www.hayfestival.com/wales/index.aspx
Marinescapes Conference in Piraeus, Greece 26-27 May 2015, was dedicated
to Oliver's memory:
http://www.civilscape.eu/civilscape/content/en/news/pages/1423848755.xml
April 2015 —
• ECSLAND Conference on European Sacred Landscapes in Sassari, Italy 2324 April 2015, was dedicated to Oliver's memory:
http://www.cclp.group.cam.ac.uk/conf_ecsland_goal&topic.html
February 2015 —
• Facebook page set up for Oliver Rackham by Dr Guy Sanders
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1551598301765933/
• Almond tree planted for Oliver in the Corinth dighouse garden by Dr Guy
Sanders.
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