Pamela Holt
2010 - Today
As a child Pamela’s mother encouraged an interest in gardening and she began her horticultural training under the head gardener at a private girls’ school in Little Bookham.
Following a Nursery Practices course at Merrist Wood, a happy year was spent working on a private estate in Ewhurst. With fine terraces, lakes and bog garden it opened occasionally under the National Gardens Scheme. As Pamela’s career progressed, various courses and posts followed from garden centre work at Trentham Gardens then owned by the Duchess of Sutherland, to instructing for the Home Office at a senior girls Approved School in Stafford and then in Worcester for boys under the Social Services. After gaining a Certificate in Education, the next twenty-one years were spent as Horticultural Lecturer at Cannington College in Somerset where the infamous Charlie Dimmock was one of her students. Redundancy came in 1998 followed by a fixed term stint at City College Manchester, then team leader at the Berkshire College of Agriculture.
Next, part-time teaching for Merrist Wood and Capel Manor before leaving education for self-employment with an Arboricultural Agency, Complete Tree Care. This prepared her for Local Government, becoming an Arboricultural Officer for the London Borough of Barnet where pressures on trees in an urban environment are a challenge in today’s economic climate. After six years Pamela retired from Barnet, working temporarily for the Highways agency via Balfour Beaty/ Mott McDonald on Highway trees in Sussex and Kent before part time work for an Arboricultural Consultancy and lastly Runnymede before Covid arrived.
Pamela was the Vice Chairman for the Arboricultural Association’s Professional Committee, and now regularly attends branch activities and conferences. She also enjoys field trips run by the Ancient Tree forum.
Pamela is still an active rock climber and mountaineer, belonging to a local club, the Pinnacle Club and the international Alpine Club who arranged a great ice climbing week in Slovenia in January 2011. Members may recall the exploits of 2002 when avalanched with her climbing companion Mike Doyle on the East face of Anoch Mor, near Fort William, Scotland. He suffered two broken ankles and a dislocated shoulder necessitating a thirteen-hour hobble for Pamela through a blizzard to raise the alarm. The ensuing newspaper publicity "Hurt heroine braves blizzard" meant that not only did the Lochaber Mountain rescue team receive £500 but she got on TV too when BBC 999 did a reconstruction screened in January 2003.
Other notable achievements being ascents of Cenotaph corner and Left wall in the Llanberis pass, North Wales; climbing in the greater ranges-Peru, Bolivia, Tadjikistan, Russia and more recently the Polish Tatras.
Pamela has now retired from work apart from a regular commitment to inspect the private school's trees where she first started work. However she is still active with flower show judging, speaking at various garden clubs, volunteering in the library at RHS Wisley and leading plant identification walks for the Surrey Hills Society and the local U3A.