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Old Farnhamians' Association |
The 400 Trust
2002 Lecture
Paul
Travers - "The Eden Project"
27th
September, 2002
Paul Travers is the son of an old boy of FGS and a former Farnham
College student. In her introduction of Paul, to a capacity audience at Farnham
College, Principal Sally Francis said she had asked some of Paul’s contemporaries
for their memories of the former student. He left the college in the early
1980s and those around at that time had two vivid recollections - long hair and
music.
From his days as a long-haired song-writer, Paul has come a long
way to find himself at the centre of one of Britain’s most exciting adventures.
Being a long time friend and colleague of the founder (now the Chief
Executive), Tim Smits, he became a part of the Eden Project around 1997 when it
was just an extraordinary idea to build the world’s largest greenhouse near St
Austell in Cornwall.
The audience was greatly diverted to hear his experiences, putting
together such a remarkable project, one that now attracts around 1.5 million
visitors a year. Unlike the infamous
dome, this was a millennium project that opened earlier than planned. This was
thanks to the brainwave of building the visitor centre first and then selling
tickets for visitors to watch the construction of the enormous geodesic design
enclosures.
Paul has received great praise from many quarters for his
contributions to the Eden Project and he gave us a memorable Farnham Lecture on
the topic.
L to R: Roy Robins, Sally Francis,
Maurice Sturt, Paul Travers, John Crotty, George Baxter, John McLaughlin,
Dudley Backhurst, Cyril Trust
