News published: 10 May 2023

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Gail Bromley.

As BGCI’s Biodiversity Education Officer for almost ten years, Gail was a key member of our education team, working on our flagship education projects such as Communities in Nature, BigPicnic and LearnToEngage.

Before joining BGCI, Gail had an impressive and full career working for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, first as a botanist (specialising in taxonomy and Latin America) and then moving across to education, where Gail launched many of the well-established education programmes that are still in place today. For her services to Education, Gail was awarded an MBE in the 2003 New Year Honours. She was also elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1987.

Having retired from Kew, Gail was never one to slow down; alongside her work with BGCI, she was also heavily involved as a trustee for the Botanic Garden Education Network (Bgen) (of which she was a founding member), and with Historic Houses. Gail’s other interests included tending to her allotment, getting involved with her local community (including organising the annual Horsell Garden Safari) and spending time looking after her four grandchildren.

Having worked in the botanic garden sector for almost her whole career, Gail knew everyone, and everyone knew Gail. She was always kind and generous with her time and knowledge, a true social butterfly, able to make even the grumpiest of colleagues fall under her spell. She was joyful, adventurous and compassionate, always happy to help out in any way she could, and she will be sorely missed by all those that knew her.

Our thoughts are with Gail’s family and loved ones at this difficult time. At the end of a long hard day of work, whilst abroad for one of our many education projects, Gail would be the first to suggest that we retire to a bar for a much-deserved glass of beer. So, I hope you will join us in raising a glass today to the memory of our very dear Gail Bromley.