OUR MISSION
OUR MISSION
The Bristol Rainforest
Planting a rainforest one classroom at a time
More About Us
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It's as simple as that, and nowhere is this more important than in our schools. Happier children do better and gain more from their classroom environment. We want to help raise the self-awareness of children, their self-esteem and their awareness of the environment, especially the world's rainforests and how important they are to us and the countless beings that live in them.
To do this we are aiming to put a rainforest tree in schools all over Bristol. We hope to make the youngest in our society aware of what it takes to look after their very own tree and learn about the great rainforests around the world that need looking after too.
At the same time, we want to build up children's own self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence. After all children with high self-belief often have a high capacity for empathy for others and the wider environment around them.
We want to put trees where they can make people happy.
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Professional Horticultural and Arboricultural Services
The Bristol Rainforest can advise on horticultural living scapes for both residential and commercial settings. We cover design and defining long-term programmes of care for planting.
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Our team can now produce arboricultural reports to BS5837:2012, assessing the impact of construction and development on the natural environment.
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We can advise on mitigating strategies and programmes for enhancing developments with sympathetic inclusion of natural systems, both flora and fauna.
Who we are
Amrish
Co-founder & Chair
From earliest childhood, I was inspired by my mother to grow plants. I've been putting pips and seeds in pots and have always been astonished and captivated by the plants that came from them. I also have a great interest in education and remember the profound and positive effect on me of good educational experiences that I have been fortunate enough to have had.
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Placing trees that I love in classrooms, gives me double satisfaction, working with trees and children. My hope is that some children may come to love trees, plants and the greater environment as much as I do.
Manorama - Co-founder & Non Executive Director
I grew up in India, in a small village that was surrounded by some of the amazing trees that we now bring into our children's schools right here in Bristol. I was fortunate enough to live, learn, and work under the cool shade of giant Banyan trees and have felt a lifelong love for them.
The joy I felt in those experiences made me want to bring those trees into my home here and into our schools. My children were inspired to grow plants and trees too. One of them works with me at the Bristol Rainforest.
Priya
Treasurer
My love of nature, gardens and natural foods drew me to work with The Bristol Rainforest because it communicates and inspires knowledge of these things to children. The more children know about their food the better their relationship with it will be and give them a happier and healthier life. I also think it’s very important that children experience nature first hand from an early age and I am proud to be able to help that happen.
Pradeep
Secretary
Bristol has provided me with a community and home for over a decade. I graduated here and in essence grew up here, it's where I returned to settle in 2022 and The Bristol Rainforest is a project that allows me to give back at a grass roots level.
Giving children access to nature and the knowledge to nurture whilst inside their schools, we hope inspires confidence and greater sense of self. This is an opportunity to normalise their experience, irrespective of background or knowledge base and contributes positively to establishing their own personal value set outside of the classroom.
Ilze
Committee Member
Hello, my name is Ilze. I come from Latvia and grew up in a very small village, surrounded by woods, lakes and rivers. From a very young age, I was interested in planting different seeds in our garden. Also, I got a lot of inspiration from my grandmother, who had a huge garden with many varieties of different plants, flowers and trees. She was also very enthusiastic about growing indoor plants and trees in her house and glass house. My grandmother had around a hundred indoor plants, I have that amount myself now.
I get so much joy out of planting seeds and watching things grow. Watching the first signs of life appear when those little green shoots pop up, is a wonderful feeling! Interacting with plants increases my life satisfaction and reduces anxiety and stress.
Judit
Committee Member
Jo
Committee Member
I was a teacher; I’m retired now, but am delighted to be able to work this wonderful enterprise. It combines the very best of education with a super way to regenerate our local communities and local environment.
Magdalena
Committee Member
Rosie
Member
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Helloooo I’m Rosie! I studied Biology at Bristol University 2014-18 and I currently work for a gardening app called Candide. have a strong passion for plants, nature and wildlife, particularly in Bristol. I love growing, botany and horticulture and I find the wide diversity of plants and how they contribute to whole ecosystems at a higher level utterly fascinating.
I want to be part of enthusing and exciting people, especially children, about the happiness plants can provide. Let’s bring the rainforest to Bristol!
Anna
Member
Hi, I’m Anna. I work at Bristol Aquarium as the horticulturist, curating a botanical house full of tropical rainforest trees right in the heart of Bristol. I was apprenticed at the University of Bristol, working as a plant technician in their ultra high tech GroDome growth facilities, and now also work there part-time in the CamoLab as an animal vision researcher. I love all kinds of biology and am very interested in communicating my passion for science and the natural world to the public. Through creating beautiful green oases in our urban spaces, I want to start reconnecting people with nature!
The Bristol Rainforest Headquarters:
