Half a Century of Memories

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Half a Century of Memories

Soon after moving to Chiswick in 1950 we joined the Society and obtained a five-rod allotment on Duke's Meadows. I was very new to gardening, so was grateful for the advice of my neighbours, one a Scotsman the other an outwardly dour Yorkshireman, who were very helpful. A third neighbour was a little bent old man who had surrounded his plot with a defensive stockade of brambles. When eventually I got him talking, he reminisced about his days as a cavalry man in the Boer War, and as he remembered his youth he straightened up to his full height. After two to three years the Council (then Brentford and Chiswick) decided that Duke’s Meadows should be returned to their pre-war use as playing fields. The Society argued strongly against this, and at this point I joined Bert Higgins, the Trading Secretary, on the Council’s Allotments Sub-Committee. It is arguable that an allotment site is a more intensive use of public space for more people than playing fields. We managed to achieve a compromise, so that one half of the plots were retained, as they are today. However, mine was in the wrong half. Bert and I continued on the Allotment Sub-Committee and subsequently the Hounslow Recreation Sub-Committee for a number of years, representing the allotment holders’ interest.

One of our staunch supporters on the Chiswick Sub-Committee was Alderman Brierley, who lived in Burlington Lane. His daughter, as a schoolgirl, won the class for locally collected wild flowers with a total of 102 varieties! Our daughter Rachel was jealous, she had only managed to find 73 sorts. Among them was deadly nightshade, growing at the end of Park Road, beside the A4! For some years, Bert and I acted as judges of Council front gardens in Brentford and Chiswick, when the council gave prizes.

Bert was a great driving force of the Society for many years, both in the trading hut and at the shows, where he enjoyed staging his sweet peas and vegetables. He worked for the Post Office at the Headquarters in an administrative capacity, but remembered delivering letters to the Rothschilds at the Gunnersbury Mansion in his youth. He belonged to the Post Office Horticultural Society and was able to get seeds in bulk, which were sold to us in small brown envelopes at 2d a go. We needed a secretary and one day, Bert said to me, “I travel to work most days with a civil servant, he is not a gardener, but he seems capable and willing.” So he recruited George Chipperfield and both of them served the Society for many years after their retirement. George was even persuaded to become an allotment holder. George died recently at the age of 90. I visited him a few months before. His best memories of the Society were the many friends he made during the 30 years or so. When the chairmanship fell vacant around 1958, Bert recruited Charlie Hicks who lived upstairs at 5 Hazledene Road. Though not a gardener, he worked hard for the Society. Bert presented the Hazledene candlesticks for competition in vegetables at the June show. Jock Lindsey, a retired policeman, held the chair for a period; a trophy with his name is used in the September show.

Our treasurer for a number of years was Douglas Hawkins. He lived in Wilmington Avenue with quite a large garden down to the railway, and also looked after his father’s allotment. Old Mr Hawkins had been the Society’s secretary before the war. The Hawkins Cup was presented in his memory. Douglas was a professional accountant, specialising in bankruptcies, and acquired a Gestetner duplicator for a song. We gave it a home, and for years turned the handle to produce the Newsletter at very little cost. The stencils were usually typed by Jean Black. One of the regular contributors was Jim Hemsley, who was a professional botanist at Kew, had a garden in Park Road and an allotment (now mine), kept to a very high standard. Jim became chairman during the time I was show secretary. Unfortunately for us, around 1960 he moved on to work in Nature Conservancy.

Douglas Hawkins was a prime mover in the working party that built our present Trading Hut. Barrowing in the ready mix concrete for the floor and building up the breeze block sidewalls was hard work, but straightforward. Erecting up the curved asbestos sheeting was tricky. I recall several of us holding the top sheets in place using long poles, while someone located and inserted the bolts that held them in place. Around this time, Councillor George Henniker became president. He had a local allotment and lived in Harvard Road. He took his turn as Mayor of Brentford and Chiswick before we were absorbed into Hounslow. The Henniker Cup was presented in his memory.

Kurt Berger remembers some of the personalities of the Society over the past 50 years.

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