A Short History of the FCBG logo

A few months ago now there was a question about the origin of the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden Meconopsis logo. Well, a fair bit of digging has been done (with much thanks to Julie Young and other members who contributed their knowledge!) and we have some answers for you!

The logo was designed as part of a project sponsored by Shell Expro in early 1993 to create a new brochure containing information about the Friends and the Garden, as well as an application form for membership. The intention was for Friends to use it to promote the FCBG to potential new members.

To find out more, Julie Young got in touch with Joan McKenzie who masterminded the brochure project. It was designed by graphics staff at Shell Expro, who then paid for the printing. They also subsequently donated £350 to the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden (A value of around £730 today), which was used to fund an illustrated guide to the Cruickshank Botanic Garden.

The logo itself was designed by a Friend, Heather Salzen, based on a card she had painted, which is still available to buy in the FCBG online shop. The Meconopsis was chosen in part for its spectacular colour, and also because of the Cruickshank variety of Meconopsis - sadly very rare and no longer in the Garden.

We are very grateful to everyone who contributed to finding out the history of the logo, and hope you have enjoyed learning about it! Members are able to read more about the introduction of the brochure and logo in the April 1993 Newsletter. This is available in the Archive newsletter section of the members area of the website.