New education centre built to ‘empower future generations to be guardians of great outdoors’

A state-of-the-art environmental education centre has been opened at the Goodwood Estate.

The Seeley Copse Education Centre was officially opened by MP Nick Gibb along with the Duke of Richmond and Rob Broughton, CEO of Thakeham group, which built the site.

Founded by the current Duke’s father in 1976, the trust works with the community, educational institutions and charities to provide learning outside the classroom for more than 3,000 school and college students every year.

The Duke said: “More than 40 years ago, my father set out to inspire a love and understanding of the natural world amongst young people.

“Today, this new building will ensure that his vision to empower future generations to become guardians of the great outdoors will continue.

“To be able to give children this experience was exactly what my father was so passionate about.

“It really was important to him and he really knew that he had a way he could make it happen.

“The centre’s reopening has been made possible by more than 35 commercial partners all providing skills, expertise, labour and materials.

Mr Boughton said: “It’s rare, but every so often a community development project comes along which ignites all those involved.

“Seeley Copse is one of those projects. It represented an important opportunity to use our skills and the wider Thakeham family to drive transformation in a rural area and establish a leading centre for ecological learning.

“The support we enjoyed from our partners throughout the South East is a wonderful endorsement of our shared vision for a better environmental future for the planet.”

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