Staff
Alison AllighanConservation Casework Manager
Alison has a background in environmental science and landscape architecture. She was the Garden History Society’s Conservation Casework Manager since 2013 and the GHS’s Conservation Officer for Scotland since 2004, dealing largely with planning and forestry-related casework, and historic landscape surveys with volunteers. She works as a freelance historical researcher and her interests include promoting Scotland’s heritage and natural landscape.
Daniel BowlesAssistant Conservation Casework Manager
Daniel joined the Gardens Trust in 2020 as a volunteer social media editor after graduating from university studying History and French, with a focus on working within the heritage sector. He joined the conservation team in 2021 to assist with conservation casework whilst also continuing his voluntary editorial role.
Teresa Forey-HarrisonFinance Officer
Teresa joined the Association of Gardens Trusts in 2011 as the AGT Co-ordinator. She has a local authority/Health Service background in management support, leisure and event management and ISO auditing.
Catherine FordAdministration and Membership Officer
Catherine has a Masters in Town and Country Planning from the University of Manchester. Throughout her career as a town planner, she has worked on numerous projects that have involved the protection and enhancement of heritage assets and understands the importance of conserving gardens, parks and landscapes for everyone to learn from and appreciate now and in the future. She is a keen novice gardener and enjoys visiting gardens to get inspiration. She joined the Gardens Trust in June 2022.
Linden GrovesHead of Operations and Strategy
Linden has worked in the landscape conservation sector for almost 20 years, starting as Assistant Editor of Historic Gardens Review, before becoming part of the conservation team of the Garden History Society, and then taking a role with the Association of Gardens Trusts on its volunteer capacity building project in 2013. She has additionally worked as a freelancer specialising in children in the historic environment for organisations such as English Heritage, the National Trust and Historic England. Her co-authored book ‘The Gardens of English Heritage’ won the Garden Media Guild’s ‘Inspirational Book of the Year’ award in 2010 and she is now working on a history of playgrounds for Liverpool University Press.
Tara HamdiFundraising Development Officer
Tara has worked in fundraising since 2009, helping to raise millions of pounds for a variety of charitable causes. Tara is passionate about the environment and making historical green spaces accessible to all. Tara joined the Gardens Trust in April 2023.
Margie HoffnungConservation Officer
Margie has a horticulture degree from Writtle College. She has worked at Westonbirt Arboretum and at Highgove, and with Rosemary Verey and Lady Mary Keen. She completed an MSc in the Conservation of Historic Gardens and Cultural Landscapes at Bath, and joined the Garden History Society in 2013 as Assistant Conservation Officer.
Tamsin McMillanVolunteer Support Officer
Tamsin studied physical geography and landscape archaeology at university. Her PhD, examined the arboriculture of West Country parks, post-1660. Tamsin worked on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Gloucestershire, then spent five years as an Historic Environment Adviser at Hilary Taylor Landscape Associates Ltd in Nottingham. She started her new role with the Gardens Trust in 2016.
Frankie TaylorEngagement Officer
Frankie has a BA in Archaeology from the University of Manchester and an MSc in Palaeolithic Archaeology from UCL. She has a range of experience working on heritage outreach projects, exhibitions and events for the National Archives, Explore York Libraries and Archives, the Natural History Museum and English Heritage, some of which have attracted national media attention. She is a strong advocate of making heritage accessible to all audiences to secure its survival for future generations and joined the Gardens Trust in 2021.
Sally BateVolunteer Support Officer (Projects)
Sally has a B.Ed. (Hons) majoring in Environmental Studies, from the University of Surrey and taught in Primary and Secondary Schools in London and Norfolk before going on to complete certificates in Practical Archaeology and Garden Design. She established the Norfolk Gardens Trust Research Group in 2014 and edited their two books on the landscapes of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton in Norfolk. The latter publication was a finalist in the East Anglian Book Awards 2018. Sally joins us when we receive funding for additional volunteer support projects.