The Gardens Trust has appointed Linden Groves to the new role of Head of Operations and Strategy. After an exciting few years of development and growth for the Gardens Trust, this new role will help manage our operations and support our team of staff and volunteers.
Previously Linden was the Strategic Development Officer for the Gardens Trust (GT). In this role she ably spearheaded many of our campaigns and outreach initiatives. These have included helping to coordinate the involvement of County Garden Trusts (CGTs) in the Capability Brown tercentenary, organising the bicentennial celebration of Humphry Repton and launching the Unforgettable Gardens campaign. In connection with the Humphry Repton project, she led the creation of a series of audience development pilots to help us reach new and more diverse audiences. Linden will bring to this new role her strategic approach, experience of working with the GT and CGTs, and broad knowledge of the garden history sector.
Linden has worked in the landscape conservation sector for almost 20 years, starting her career as Assistant Editor of Historic Gardens Review. She gained a Masters degree in Garden History from Birkbeck and joined the conservation team of the Garden History Society. In 2013 Linden took a role with the Association of Gardens Trusts on the Historic Landscape Project, its volunteer capacity building project. Linden 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.
GT chairman Peter Hughes says: “I am delighted that Linden has agreed to take on this new role which is key to the GT’s future success. She has a wealth and breadth of experience of all aspects of what the GT does and I am sure she is just the right person to steer our ambitious plans forward.”
Linden says: “The GT’s staff and volunteers have done an incredible job of pushing the GT through the pandemic and helping it emerge stronger and even more purposeful than before. This new role enables me to support them as we grow our ambitions even further, and I can’t wait to get stuck in!”
