Trustees & Team

The Castle Howard Arboretum Trust, the independent charitable trust that administers the Yorkshire Arboretum and manages the collections in Ray Wood, was established in 1994 as a partnership between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Castle Howard Estates Ltd.

As Prince of Wales, HM King Charles III was our Patron for many years, until his patronage lapsed on his accession to the throne. We thank him for his patronage and interest in the arboretum, especially expressed in his support for our Red Squirrel Project.

(The then Prince of Wales photographed at the arboretum with Arboretum Operations Manager, Neil Batty.)

The Board of Trustees

  • Mr Greville Worthington (Chair)

  • Mr Richard Barley

  • Mr Christopher Bridge

  • Dr Helen Crews

  • Professor Ian Graham

  • The Hon Nicholas Howard

  • Mrs Victoria Howard

  • Mrs Jane Ingham

  • Mr Anthony Kirkham

  • Professor Nicola Spence

  • Mr Michael Sturge

  • Dr Alan Suggett

  • Ms Julia Willison

Dr John Grimshaw is the Director and Curator of the Yorkshire Arboretum, where he has been in post since 2012. He is a respected gardener, botanist and author who has written and edited several books including Snowdrops (with Matt Bishop and Aaron Davis) and New Trees, Recent Introductions to Cultivation, with Ross Bayton. He is currently Editor-in Chief of the International Dendrology Society’s Trees and Shrubs Online, a digital encyclopaedia of cultivated temperate woody plants. He sits on the RHS Woody Plant and Gardens Committees and the Nomenclature and Taxonomy Advisory Group.