It is with sadness that we report the death of Una McDermott of Carrick-on-Suir, Waterford and, Dublin, a lecturer at the Waterford Institute of Technology, Kildalton College and the National Botanic Gardens. Una was course leader for the BSc in Horticulture and liaised with Teagasc on the delivery of the course at the Botanic Gardens. She trained in the Botanic Gardens (1980- 82) and worked in a number of gardening posts culminating as OPW Head Gardener of the War Memorial Park at Islandbridge during its extensive restoration. She returned to study at UCD and graduated with a BAgSc (Land Hort) in 1916. Una completed an MA in Museum Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She took the Specialism in Education and her thesis was ‘Developing an educational programme for the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin: factors to consider’. She returned to work in Dúchas, the heritage service, and worked to develop a three-year public education strategy for the organisation. Subsequently, Una moved into teaching and taught with Teagasc in the Botanic Gardens and Kildalton College before moving to WIT in 2001. She is sadly missed by current and past students along with her colleagues in the horticulture education community. Our condolences to her family. ✽
