Meet the staff and students

The staff

Richard Baldwin

Richard Baldwin has had a wide and varied experience in commercial horticulture, starting at the parks department in Brighouse, where he worked in glasshouse crops. He then moved into fruit research at the Horticultural Experimental Station in the midlands, and then spent 20 years growing intensive vegetable crops at Pershore, as well as developing the organic unit.  Alongside the practical experience, Richard has worked up the academic ladder, gaining qualifications in horticulture, teaching and management. 

Gary Knights

Gary Knights currently teaches landscape construction, estate skills, machinery operations, and general horticulture at Moreton Morrell. Before joining the College, he was head gardener at the Mallory Court Hotel, as well working as a contractor doing landscape work. Gary has also worked as a landscape foreman and for another landscaping company, where he worked on specialist water features. During this time he won the ‘tutor rose’ for the best show garden at the RHS Hampton Court Flower show.

Mike Roberts

Mike Roberts is the Technical Academy Manager for higher education and RHS courses in horticulture and a garden design lecturer. Mike started his career working in nurseries and garden centres before studying landscape and horticultural technology, where he also gained experience in landscape architecture and local authority grounds maintenance.  After graduating, Mike specialised in garden and landscape design, working for one of the largest landscaping companies in the south of England, as their private landscape manager.  He has designed and exhibited gardens at some of the country's top horticultural shows wining gold, silver-gilt and silver medals for his garden designs.

Peter Beck

Peter Beck teaches on the arboriculture courses at Moreton Morrell. Previously he  has worked for the National Trust as an apprentice before progressing on to work for the Crown Estate in Windsor Great Park. Here he was the team leader in charge of the trees in the grounds of Windsor Castle and the Queens private gardens.

Jane Benefield

Jane Benefield teaches the fast-track and short floristry at Moreton Morrell. She has been teaching floristry for over five years and has spent over ten years
working in florists’ shops at a senior level. Jane has won medals at the Fusion
Flower International Designer competition and has had photos of her work
published in the International Annual of Floral Art. She has also been crowned the Interflora Florist of the Year and won an RHS Chelsea Flower show gold medal.

Colin Perkins

Colin Perkins is the curriculum leader for the HND and BSc courses at Pershore. He also teaches on some of the further education courses. Colin has always been interested in plants and animals and gained a degree in applied biology before going on to achieve a PhD in plant virology six years later. Colin has been teaching at Pershore College ever since and has recently achieved his Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in higher education.

Hear from the students…

Josh Egan-Wyer, BSc Horticulture

“I chose to study at Pershore because of it’s excellent reputation. When I was deciding where I should study horticulture after doing my A-Levels, lots of people already working in the industry recommended Pershore.  As it is only 25 miles from where I live too, it sounded perfect.  After visiting an open event and being shown around, I was really impressed with the facilities and the friendliness and enthusiasm of the staff. Now in my second year, I have really enjoyed every minute of the course so far.

The first year of the course aims to give you grounding in all aspects of horticulture, before you decide on which pathway to specialise in later on.  This was a really useful and productive time for me, mainly because even though I knew I was going to take the amenity option in my second and third years, I wanted experience of crop production and organics too!

Being at Pershore has presented me with many opportunities that I could never have previously imagined. I have designed a garden for the 2012 Malvern Spring Show which we will now create, I have joined the Student Union and become a residential student warden. Pershore has presented me with the skills and requirements that any employer, both through curricular and extracurricular activities, may want.”

Douglas and Howard McKay National Diploma and HND in Horticulture.

Identical twins, Douglas and Howard MacKay, came to Pershore to study the National Diploma in Horticulture. They have both progressed onto the HND in Horticulture.

Douglas said: “Howard and I used to work in a kitchen garden in Devon, which we really enjoyed.  We were told by the head gardener that if we wanted to develop our careers, Pershore was the best place to go. I love it here, the facilities are brilliant and no two days are the same.  The course is very diverse and there’s always a lot to learn. The highlight of my time so far has been working on our exhibit for the Chelsea Flower Show 2010 which won a gold medal.

“I chose college because I wanted to start at the grass roots, learning all the vocational and practical skills you need to go into horticulture. I would recommend Pershore to anyone interested in horticulture – if that’s what you want to do, then this is the place you should come.

”College life is great too, the students’ union is very proactive which really helped us to settle in when we arrived.  Now, I am the students’ union treasurer and Howard and I are both residential wardens – people were so good at helping us get involved when we started, it’s nice to help others to do the same.”