Amenity Horticulture Consultant (retired)
Wisley Trainee 1940 and 1946/47
Now in his 90s, Bob’s career had been decided from a young age while growing up in the New Forest with his mother and father. His father was a subsistence farmer and his mother was in service, becoming a bothy* woman.
Bob gained experience while gardening in private service, but realised he would need more than paper references to progress his career. While studying at Polytechnic in London he saw an advertisement in the Gardeners’ Chronicle for students at Wisley.
He applied and was surprised to be asked to go without an interview! “It just rocked me really”, but in 1940 when Bob was in his early 20s, he set off for Wisley.
Students at this time had to be between 21 and 25 years old and not married. Work started at 8am with half an hour break for breakfast and an hour for lunch. Work finished at 5pm and by 6pm students were back in the Lab being lectured by the botanist or mycologist (whoever had an hour)! Academic work even at this stage, included the herbarium and pest collections and a programme of demonstrations was received, detailing what lay ahead.
Bob spent his first six weeks in the Fruit shed but his studies were interrupted when he was called up for war service with the Navy, returning in 1946 to complete the course. The garden at Wisley was very rough when Bob returned, the rather elderly staff doing their best to keep the garden together.
Now looking back at his time at Wisley, Bob believes he was made into a “whole being” in horticulture. He’d had a lot of practical experience prior to training at Wisley, but was able to do “the scientific side of it” as well.
After leaving Wisley, Bob got a job with the Greater London Council (GLC), buying 20,000 roses every year, hiring staff, and buying materials, and was sure that gaining the Wisley Diploma helped him secure this important post.
Bob also went on to audit the work of contractors in the Royal Parks but never lost his links with Wisley, being a Dahlia Committee member for 50 years and having the honour of being the oldest living member of the RHS Gardens Club.
When asked as the most senior former student would he give any advice to the new trainees, his reply was quite straightforward: “Listen! Listen to what’s being said and take a few notes. You will need it.”
*Bothy – a small hut or cottage, especially one for housing labourers.