The Writhlington School Orchid Project has been named as one of thirty-one botanical institutions worldwide that will be linked for a major new initiative on global orchid conservation.

The initiative is led by the Koo Botanic Conservation Centre, Taiwan, and students at Writhlington and Mendip Studio Schools will be working alongside international botanists to catalogue the world’s ex-situ conservation collections and co-ordinate conservation projects.

Science Teacher, Simon Pugh-Jones MBE, explained: “Students will have fantastic opportunities to collaborate with partners across the globe, and the work culminates in the World Orchid Congress in Taiwan in 2020.”

Students will be celebrating the start of the initiative at their annual public ‘Orchid Christmas’ next Wednesday, 12th December from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with mince pies, mulled wine and tours of the famous orchid collection and orchid sales in time for Christmas.