1988 - 2013 Retirement

Mary may have retired from Cardiff University in 1988 but she certainly didn't stop working!

Between 1988 and 2013 she published 16 books; visited: Australia (twice), Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Eire (twice), France (three times), Greece (Corfu), Italy, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal (Madeira), South Africa (twice), Spain, USA (three times - New England, Florida, Hawaii), the Windward Isles, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia) and Zimbabwe; continued to travel extensively around the UK; routinely gave talks and led guided walks; shared her knowledge and experience; and received an MBE!

Rivers, Glamorgan Heritage Coast Wildlife Series, Volume 2 published

June 1989

Find out about more of Mary's written work here!

Limestone Downs: Commons, Farms and Woods, Glamorgan Heritage Coast Wildlife Series, Volume 3 published

June 1991

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Coastal Downs: Ogmore and Dunraven, Glamorgan Heritage Coast Wildlife Series, Volume 4 published

June 1993

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A study tour to Hawaii

27 July 1993

From 27 July to 17 August 1993, Mary joined a Cardiff University Department of Continuing Education study tour to Hawaii.

Sea Cliffs: Cwm Mawr to Gileston, Glamorgan Heritage Coast Wildlife Series, Volume 5

June 1994

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South Africa revisited

8 November 1994

Twenty-four years after her first visit, Mary introduced her friends Ursula and Mairead to South Africa on a Saga Holidays organised tour, a rather different experience from her solo trip in 1960.

47 days in Australia

1 October 1995

Her time spent in Australia in the 1950s-’60s obviously made a big impression on Mary and she returned several times in her later years, making the long trip south in 1982, 1983, 1989, 1990-91 and, for a final time in 1995, for 47 days from 1 October to 17 November.

Town Bred, Country Nurtured: A naturalist looks back fifty years published

June 1998

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Islands of the Trade Winds: An Indian Ocean Odyssey published

June 2000

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Island Hopping in Tasmania’s Roaring Forties published

July 2000

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Mary and Mairead Sutherland aboard a cruise along the Amazon, November/December 2000

79th birthday in the Amazon!

November 2000

Between 20 November and 6 December Mary, with her great friend Mairead, took a cruise up the Amazon. On this trip Mary celebrated her 79th birthday.

The Garth Countryside: Part of Cardiff’s green mantle: A natural history (volume 1)

The Garth Countryside: Part of Cardiff’s green mantle: A natural history published

June 2001

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Mary’s 80th birthday

26 November 2001

For her 80th birthday Mary's friends at the Cardiff Naturalists' Society, Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalists' Society and the Wildlife Trusts made Mary a biographical book about her first 80 years - little did they know it would be the precursor to the Mary Gillham Archive Project!

A Natural History of Cardiff: Exploring along the River Taff: being an account of the animal and plant life in and around our capital city (volume 2)

A Natural History of Cardiff: Exploring along the River Taff published

June 2002

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Memories of Welsh Islands published

June 2004

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Salt Wind from the Cape published

June 2005

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A Natural History of Cardiff: Exploring along the rivers Rhymney and Roath (volume 3)

A Natural History of Cardiff: Exploring along the rivers Rhymney and Roath published

June 2006

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Botanists on the Burren and Inisheer

15 June 2006

For a week in June 2006, Mary returned to Ireland, to spend a week revisiting favourite places with a group of fellow botanists and others.

A Naturalist on Lundy: The island wildlife over 50 years published

June 2007

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This Island Life: Discovering Britain’s offshore gems published

July 2007

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Mary Gillham with her MBE and her goddaughter Rosemary, 2008.

Mary Gillham MBE

29 December 2007

In the New Year Honours 2008 announced on 29 December 2007, Dr. Mary Eleanor Gillham was awarded an MBE for services to Nature Conservation in South Wales.

So long Gwaelod, hello Radyr…

January 2008

"Much of my working life was spent in Cardiff, but I chose to live beyond the city's limits until the latter part of my eighties when I compromised by moving in beside one of the Capital's most versatile country parks on the coastal plain between two northern suburbs."

Exploring the Inner Hebrides published

June 2008

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Wildlife Watching in the Slow Lane: The nature diary of an octogenarian pubilshed

June 2009

Find out about more of Mary's written work here!

‘Inspirational Botanists – Women of Wales’ exhibition

March 2012

An exhibition, at the National Botanic Garden of Wales entitled ‘Inspirational Botanists – Women of Wales’ marks the contribution of women to botanical science in Wales in the past 200 years.

The death of a naturalist

23 March 2013

Mary Gillham dies, aged 91.

Find out what happens next during the Mary Gillham Archive Project!

April 2013 Read more