Pearl Beach Arboretum is looking for volunteers to help out at working bees held on the third Sunday of each month, with the next one set for Sunday, August 17, from 9-11am.
All tools are provided and volunteers need only to bring gardening gloves, a hat, a bottle of water and sunscreen.
Following this month’s working bee, there will be an anniversary barbecue picnic from 11.30am-3pm.
The Crommelin Native Arboretum was established in August 1976.
Each year members and friends come together to celebrate with a BYO lunchtime picnic.
All are welcome and cake, tea and coffee will be supplied at this 49th anniversary celebration.
Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch will acknowledge Robert Payne as the arboretum’s new patron.
A well-respected ecologist, he was one of those responsible for the study and mapping of the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland, an endangered ecological community located on the Umina-Woy Woy Peninsula.
He was a member of the Arboretum inaugural committee in 1976 and has continued as a member of the committee .
His background as a surveyor helped control what was then a fairly wild and overgrown four hectares of bushland.
His subsequent post graduate university studies in botany and ecology allowed him to bring to the arboretum a professional understanding of flora and fauna.
Payne collected different native plants from across eastern Australia which were propagated and planted in the arboretum, helping to create a diverse range of species.
He has surveyed and listed the flora and fauna of the arboretum on several occasions and a bridge on the grounds has been named after him.
The arboretum has a new entrance path from the tennis courts under construction, with new entrance signs set to be installed over the next month.
The arboretum AGM will be held in the Pearl Beach Progress Hall on Wednesday, September 17, at 5.30pm.
Community members with a passion for native flora and fauna are encouraged to consider nominating for the management committee.
For more details email contact@pearlbeacharboretum.org.au or call 0427 502 042.
The arboretum is also planning an afternoon of West Coast 70s music by the Album Show from 2-5pm on Saturday, October 11.
Featured will be the iconic hits of Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, America, Carly Simon and many more.
Bring your rugs, chairs and a picnic and enjoy an afternoon of great music.
No pets or smoking allowed but there will be a dance space.
Proceeds will support the Pearl Beach Progress Association and the Arboretum.
Book tickets at https://events.humanitix.com/westcoast-70s-arboretum
