THE HISTORY OF HALL'S OF
HEDDON By Stan Hall
My Father, William Nicholson Hall, was born at Bowes House Farm,
Chester-le-Street, in the County of Durham in 1879. He started work at the age
of twelve and a half, at a wage of eight pence (3p) per day, as a garden boy and
later with William Younger (Breweries), firstly as a jobbing gardener, then
drayman's assistant and finally becoming involved with the actual brewing
process. During this time he also acted as gardener to the Manager. He was
married to Barbara Anne Clifford in 1909 (both were teachers at the Sunday
School they attended) and by the commencement of the First World War their son,
Will, and daughter, Rita, had arrived, followed in 1915 by second son Tom. It
was about this time that Dad joined the 6th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers, and
within a short space of time he was serving in Flanders as a stretcher bearer.
One can only try to imagine conditions in France - on one occasion, in the
course of his duties at Yepres, Dad was blown out of one shell hole into
another. The result was that he was completely blinded for three days and, in
addition, he had innumerable minute pieces of shrapnel embedded in his skin up
to 40 years later. He was taken prisoner at Pashiondale and whilst a prisoner
contacted Nephrites, a disease of the kidney. At the end of the War Dad was
repatriated, discharged from the Army and was awarded a partial disability
pension of ten shillings (50p) per week. Dad took on his old job at the brewery,
but because of his disability he was unable to stand the extremes of heat and
cold and after some spells of illness his doctor advised him to try to obtain
outdoor employment.
It was now 1920 and my sister Edna was born. In 1921, a two acre garden attached to Heddon House, Heddon on the Wall, was offered to rent and (conveniently) only half a mile away an unoccupied two bedroom farm cottage was available. So, in April 1921, the family (which now numbered six) moved the 17 miles from Chester-le-Street to Heddon on the Wall, eight miles west of Newcastle. The garden consisted of five almost derelict glasshouses with an aged heating system and two acres of much neglected orchard overgrown with nettles, thistles, Docks and couch grass. The clearing of this was hardly the outdoor employment that the doctor had envisaged! The daunting task of clearing the area was greatly eased by my Uncle Tot, who, on his day off from his job on the railway travelled 17 miles by bus and on foot, to clear this or that area and build a bonfire that would stay alight for a week, until his next visit. The business started as a general nursery and the first list, printed in 1923 makes interesting reading - Bedding plants from 6d (2.5p) or 1/-(5p) per dozen, according to type Dahlias 6d (2.5p) each: 5/-(25p) per dozen.
By now Will and Rita were helping out at nights after
school and at weekends. There was another mouth to feed in 1924 when I came
along, which could hardly have helped matters, especially as the great
depression of the late 1920's was creeping upon us. A time when essentials in
clothing and shoes, etc., had to be purchased (unless they were hand-me-downs,
which they invariably were) in late Spring or Summer as there was certainly no
money available at any other time of the year. During this time Dad 'hawked'
around the neighbouring villages, first with a pony and trap and later with a
second hand van christened 'Dinah') selling vegetables and produce from the
Nursery - Apples at 6d(2.5p) a stone, and jam which Mother had made (as well as
looking after the seven of us) About this time, Dad had his arm broken while
trying to start 'Dinah'. This did not stop activities, it only made things more
difficult, such as picking apples out of 18ft trees with his arm in a sling, and
driving 'Dinah' on his round. As the Nursery was completely surrounded by
agricultural land it was necessary for survival to widen the clientele. This was
done by opening a plant-cum-produce stall in St. Andrew's Street in Newcastle.
These consisted of trestle tables about 6ft x 4ft, rented to local growers at
something like 1/6d a day (Saturdays only). As sites were offered on a first
come, first served basis, to get a good site you had to be prepared to leave
home very early in the morning - they were long days. Even from such precarious
beginnings it was gratifying to notice that a regular, though small, clientele
was being built up.
In 1932 Newcastle Corporation opened a purpose built Plant and Produce Market
where stalls were permanent and were under cover! From here on, business started
to improve as we were able to put on displays of various flowers to take orders,
as well as having a continuous selection of plants, depending on the season, on
offer. Additionally, since sons Will and Tom had joined Dad, some specialisation
took place and a modest mail order business was established. Specialities in
1935 were Pansies and Violas (95 varieties), Dahlias (115) varieties) and
Chrysanthemums (169 varieties). The Pansy enterprise was terminated rather
dramatically by the unwelcome efforts of a hungry blackbird. This *!** bird got
trapped inside a frame holding several thousands of pansy and viola cuttings in
the process of rooting and, in search of worms and snails, it pulled out every
cutting and label. Exit pansy enterprise.
Production now concentrated on Chrysanthemums and Dahlias assisted, no doubt, by
the annual catalogue, which in 1935 for the first time included illustrations.
At the same time the range of Hardy Border Plants and Alpines was being expanded
for sale in the Nursery and in Newcastle. In 1937, 197 varieties of Dahlia were
on offer, including several imports from the continent - Angleterre, Goldfasan,
Altmark and Zauberflote come to mind.
FRESH FIELDS
The Nurseries at West Heddon were now proving too small to cope with the
expanding mail order trade and for the production of other horticultural crops,
so in the Spring of 1937 a 10 acre field with a pleasant southerly aspect was
purchased at Ovington (some five miles west of Heddon). The following year two x
60ft x 12ft propagating houses and two 60ft x 20ft growing houses were erected,
which Tom was pleased to take over and manage, especially in view of the
run-down state of the original glasshouses at Heddon.
EXHIBITING
We had been putting up trade stands at various shows on Tyneside in the 30's but
the most important result was being awarded the Henderson Trophy for the Best
Trade Exhibit at the Newcastle Horticultural Society Show in November, 1938.
This was against several firms of national repute, including Woolmans of
Birmingham and Dobbies of Edinburgh. With better growing facilities we were bold
enough to foray to London (also in 1938) when at the National Chrysanthemum
Society Early Flowering Show our exhibit received a Large Silver Medal. The
following year at the RHS Autumn Show our group of Chrysanthemums was awarded a
Silver Banksian Medal. To describe the setting up of an adequate water supply at
Ovington would require a book in itself. Suffice to say that after a water
diviner had promised an ample supply of water at about 50ft, drilling commenced
and continued - and continued but to no avail. Funds were running low and there
was the question 'Do we go ahead and drill deeper or do we abandon the effort?'
Because of the expense already incurred it was decided that we must go ahead and
at 325ft depth and after considerably more expense, a sustainable water supply
was secured. The 2" diameter borehole had cost almost as much as the land and
would have been sufficient to build another four 60ft glasshouses!! This was in
1939 and the beginning of the Second World War. Brother Will having already
joined the RAF VR (Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve) was very quickly away in
training whilst Dad and Tom joined the local Home Guard Platoon which used the
Nursery workshop as a base. The emphasis now, of course, was on vegetable
production and it was an extremely difficult job securing stocks of
approximately 300 varieties of chrysanthemum and about 180 varieties of dahlia
for the future. Non-food crops could only be grown providing they were grown
between the rows of vegetables and the space available allowed that only 4 or 5
plants of each variety could be grown. It was inevitable, therefore, that by the
end of hostilities in 1945 many varieties had been lost.
WAR TAKES ITS TOLL
Brother Will progressed quickly in the RAF VR and by 1940 was flying Blenheim's
with a Photographic Reconiscence Unit. On 14th April 1941, his plane was shot
down over Holland on his last tour of duty before he was to be transferred to
Wick in the North of Scotland on a training assignment. Will had been the
mainstay in setting up the mail order business in chrysanthemums and dahlias and
had actually started hybridising with some success. I shall never forget the
discussion we had on his last leave at Christmas, 1940. We were looking at the
depleted stocks, he said, "Wait 'till this (the war) is over, we'll show them
how to grow them.' I do not know exactly who he meant by 'them' but it certainly
had a great effect on me, I being only 15 years old at the time, and was the
newest addition to the family business. At the end of the war in 1945 we were
all keen to get back to growing the flowers that during the years of austerity
were banned. Hosts of new dahlias were coming onto the scene. Unfortunately,
many of indifferent quality and questionable health. So it was that in 1945 an
association of commercial dahlia growers was founded. The British Dahlia Growers
Association was formed with the motto "Honest Endeavour towards better and
healthier dahlias". To this end it ran trials of seedlings for members using a
strict pointing system. A spectacular variety could gain a Blue Riband Award,
although this was rarely given. Achievement Awards were given to other varieties
which had secured over 80% of points. These trials pinpointed the better
varieties that were appearing and had the effect of raising standards all round.
Another remit of the BDGA was working with the Plant Health people to find means
of reducing the incidence of virus disease in dahlias. I was appointed Secretary
of the Northern Region (BDGA) in 1950 and had an amazing 87 members - all
commercial dahlia growers! Wherever did they all go? I became Chairman in 1970
and remained so until the number of specialist dahlia growers fell to the point
beyond which it was impossible to carry on the trials and conferences which had
been its life-blood over the years. During the 50's we exhibited at about 10
shows annually, publicising the dahlia, with groups of various sizes which
collectively, would have amounted to somewhere in the region of 4,000ft. Our
first exhibiting visits to the National Dahlia Society Shows in London
commencing in 1951 when we entered the six vase classes for both Small
Decoratives and Small Cactus Dahlias and during the period from 1951 to 1957 we
were awarded First Prize and Silver Trophy for Small Decorative on four
occasions and First Prize for Small Cactus five times. Present day exhibitors
may be interested to learn that the six vase classes in those days called for 9
blooms of one variety per vase - green earthenware vases about 10" tall and
extremely 'narrow waisted'. You would be lucky to get three stems down to the
bottom of the vase, the remaining six blooms had to have their stems chamfered
to fit those stems already placed. There was no such thing as 'Oasis' Blooms
were carried dry, packed in large cardboard cases on a layer of woodwool, lined
with tissue paper with pillows (a roll of tissue paper filled with wood-wool) to
take pressure off the flowers. The journey was by rail (excess luggage) and taxi
or railway van across London to the RHS Halls. The first job on arrival was to
unpack the blooms, cutting off about an inch of stem before putting into buckets
to recover. One of our Trophy Winning Classes of Small Decorative (probably in
1954) seemed to stand out head and shoulders over the other entries in the
class, and were probably as much an advertisement to Dobbies of Edinburgh as to
ourselves because three of the varieties, namely, Brill, Edinburgh and Excel,
were their introductions. The other three were Buttermere (Barwise), Kendal
Pride (Webb) and Gerrie Hoek (Hoek). Looking back to the '50's I seemed to be
spending more and more time with Dahlias, attending Regional Meetings and
General Meetings of the BDGA. Judging trials at Hartlepool, Cardiff and
Harrogate. Judging Dahlias in the immediate area, and, of course, maintaining
our own planting stock of approximately 5,000 plants. Even so, I did meet, and
in 1953 was married to Evelyn Blair. She soon discovered that my job was not the
usual '8 till 5'and she was never really happy when I had to spend nights away
from home. I owe Evelyn a great debt of gratitude, as not only has she looked
after me well over the years, and raised two fine children, but has been in
charge of the Packing Department for more years than I care to remember. If any
job was delayed, or a person was off,
Evelyn was always there to fill in.
TUBERS
Although dahlia tubers were not offered to mainland customers until 1962 the
first sales of tubers were to Canada and New Zealand in 1955. In fact, it was
interest from overseas, due to advertisements in the NDS Annuals that induced us
to start experimenting into tuber production, so from a modest beginning we now
regularly supply customers in eleven countries.To enable us to export dahlias,
we are obliged to submit our Nursery and stock to the following inspections –
PESS: Pre-Export Soil Sampling, to ensure
that Potato Root Eelworm (Dilylenchus distructor) is not present.
GSI: Growing Season Inspection, to ensure
that the stocks in the field are visually free from Dahlia Mosaic, Cucumber
Mosaic and Tomato Spotted Wilt (Viruses) and pests and diseases.
PEC: Pre Export Certification, issued only
after the inspector has satisfied himself that every trace of soil has been
removed from the tubers and that there is no evidence of 'foreign' bodies. It
goes without saying that these regular visits and inspections from the Plant
Health Department, not only ensured that stock going overseas was of a high
standard, but had the effect of raising quality throughout the entire stock.
Note: Since the introduction of Plant
Passports in 1993, exports to countries within the European Community do not
require pre-export certification, however, the regulations still apply to all
other countries. On 22nd June, 1960, my Father passed away, after a short
illness at the age of 81. It shows something of the tenacity of the man that
with the set-backs of poor health after the First World War, and extremely
difficult conditions during the depression of the late 20's and early 30's he
was still able to establish and build up a respectable horticultural business.
My son, David, was born on 14th April, 1961, co-incidentally, exactly 20 years
to the day from when my brother, Will, died in World War II. David, after
showing an early interest in gardening, did a three-year sandwich course in
Commercial Horticulture at Writtle College in Chelmsford, doing his sandwich
year at Blooms of Bressingham, after which he joined the family business. He is
now doing the combined job of Nursery Manager and Financial Director. This
situation allows me to spend more time with the dahlias. Daughter, Judith, was
born 13th September, 1964, and on leaving school started work at the Nursery, in
the office. She is now married and is in overall charge of the Mail Order part
of this chrysanthemum and dahlia enterprise.
TRADE EXHIBITS
The first trade exhibit we staged at the National Dahlia Society London Show was
in 1961 (Silver Medal). This was followed in 1962 by the award of the Harry
Stredwick Trophy and Gold Medal (Best Trade Exhibit under 25ft). Up to the 60's
I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of Dahlias were being raised by
Commercial growers such as Bollego, Moorse and Bruidegom in Holland and Dobbies
of Edinburgh; Lister's of Rothsay and Barwise of Burnley, to mention just a few.
About this time, however, there was evidence that many amateur growers were
having success in hybridizing, starting off with Bill Wilkins of Camberley in
Surrey. He it was who raised the varieties with the "Minley" prefix. Minley Boy,
Maid, Pride and Carol, and in 1960 "Hadrians Gold" (SD) which was the first
variety that we had introduced to receive the Blue Riband of the British Dahlia
Growers Association. In introducing these raisings of the late Bill Wilkins we
had, albeit unwittingly at the time, initiated a service to amateur raisers and
the dahlia growing public which has continued until the present time. Briefly, a
gentleman's agreement is drawn up between the raiser and ourselves (the
introducer) that ensures payment to the raiser of "Royalties" on all sales of
tubers and plants of the stipulated variety during the year of introduction.
During the intervening years we have introduced at least 120 varieties by this
method, and Royalties have been paid based on sales. As you would expect,
payments are linked directly with the popularity of the variety. Some payments
have been as little as about £20.00 but these were in the minority. Many have
been in the £50.00/£100.00 area. Several good exhibition varieties have earned
the raiser many hundreds of pounds and at best one raiser got over £1,000 for
his seedling. I could not possibly mention all raisers and the varieties they
have bred over the years, but many have contributed greatly to the Dahlia and
deserve recognition. In 1963 "Charlie" Aldred from Beccles raised "Valetta
Wells" (MSD) and several more in later years. Jimmy Rooke (past member of the
NDS Executive) raised "Betty Russell" (syn. Yellow Tempo). In our second " Harry
Stredwick" Gold Medal winning group at the 1969 NDS Show (the first one was in
1962), we featured three varieties that had not been seen in London before,
namely "Rothesay Robin" from Lister's "Trunkey" and "White Kerkrade" raised by
John Manson in Edinburgh. The Royalty he subsequently received was to say the
least quite beyond his expectations. My very good friend, the late Arthur
Lashlie (Chester-le-Street) was a regular local and national exhibitor and he
and I travelled to London together from the mid 50's for 20 out of 21 years. He
was having some success at hybridizing and in 1973 we introduced "Carter Bar",
his first of several notable raisings. Another extremely good personal friend
was Alan Dunlop (Gosforth, Newcastle) who was an extremely able grower and
exhibitor. He became interested in hybridizing in the mid 70's. Because he was
restricted with space we had an arrangement, which worked extremely well until
he tragically passed away in 1988. Alan saved the seed and we grew it on at West
Heddon. During the flowering season Alan would come up, generally on a Sunday
morning and we would go through the seedlings together, assessing, selecting and
rejecting as we went. I will never forget those wonderful mornings. Alan had
quite a large vocabulary, and I must say that I learned a few adjectives, which
although unprintable, were extremely descriptive. Alan was extremely selective
when assessing seedlings, consequently any varieties which he raised bearing his
prefix "Davenport" (the road on which he lived) were of high quality. His first
in 1976, Davenport Pride, securing an Award of Merit from the RHS. Then there
was Davenport Sunlight (MSC) several more and then his last one introduced in
1989, Davenport Honey. He would have been quite 'chuffed' if he had known that
'Honey' was adjudged best vase in show at the Scottish National in Stirling in
1993. In 1977 we introduced the first seedling from Doug. Williams (Clwyd),
Alltami Supreme (SB) and this was followed in succeeding years with quite a few
varieties with the Alltami prefix which had the effect of strengthening the
sections to which they belonged. Then in 1979 Frank Docherty gave us Jill Doc
(MD) which was the forerunner of a few useful varieties from Hartlepool.
A MEMORABLE YEAR
1981 was a memorable year for several reasons. Firstly, it was the year in which
we celebrated the firm's Diamond Jubilee and during which we had the honour of
being awarded four Achievement Awards for dahlias introduced on behalf of
raisers on Tyneside. 1981 was also the Centenary of the National Dahlia Society,
during the celebrations for which we were delighted to welcome to our Nurseries
amongst other overseas visitors, a coach load of dahlia fanciers from New
Zealand and Australia. It was a real pleasure to meet personally several regular
customers who previously had been only names and addresses in an order book. It
was perhaps significant that exports increased a hundred fold from that year!!
During the 80's the third generation became involved in the business. Niece
Maxine at the Ovington Branch in charge of Hardy Border Plants, and Bedding
Plant production and son and daughter, David and Judith at Heddon. In 1984 we
had the honour to introduce on behalf of Yorkshire's dahlia stalwart, Neville
Weekes, the small semi cactus "Morley Lass". Sadly, he passed away last
November. His contribution to the dahlia was legend. Since the 50's and 60's
when we exhibited on average at ten shows a year, we have restricted our
displays considerably. With the inauguration of the Harrogate Great Autumn Show
in 1975, the brainchild of Alan Ravenscroft of the Northern Horticultural
Society and Harrogate Parks Director. We have exhibited every year (except 1990
- Gateshead Festival Year) securing either a Gold or Large Gold Medal on every
occasion. The fact that the leading dahlia exhibitors from England, Scotland and
Wales attended Harrogate had some bearing on this decision. You could call it a
central meeting point for all our customers. We welcomed the inauguration during
1985 of the NDS's exhibition trials at Bradford. This has proved to be a useful
exercise and a great help to exhibitor members of the society. Together with the
RHS/NDS trials at Wisley, all aspects of the dahlia are covered - except
suitability for cut flowers. One of the first varieties to secure recognition at
Bradford was 'Neal Gillson' (MD) raised by Joe Kidd (Darlington) Northern
Committee Member. David Boyd, Newcastle upon Tyne) who will not be unknown to
readers of this article, raised his first seedling in 1989 under the name of
'Cloverdale' (SD). David has, during the last eight/ten years, had remarkable
success in exhibiting at the major shows in the country, winning several
individual championships and innumerable other awards besides. Although
'Cloverdale' is the only seedling to his name at the moment, I fancy that there
will soon be several more coming along, and you can be sure that they will have
the form necessary to win.
GATESHEAD NATIONAL GARDEN FESTIVAL – 1990
The year of the Gateshead National Garden Festival was a really exciting year
for us for several reasons. As one of the outdoor displays, we planted and
maintained a bed of dahlias covering a wide range of varieties and
classifications under the title "The Colourful World of Dahlias". The display
received the award of a Gold Medal for the Best Trade Bedding Display. In
addition, our exhibit in the NDS/Festival Dahlia Show secured a Large Gold Medal
and Premier Award. To commemorate the event we were pleased to be able to
introduce "Gateshead Festival" raised by Roy Howes. Other awards included - a
Gold Medal at the RHS/Festival Show for Hardy Border Plants and three Large Gold
Medals at other shows at the Festival including the National Chrysanthemum
Society/Festival Show and the Harvest Festival Show. During 1990 I had two hip
replacement operations, one in March and the second in July. I recall with some
amusement mixing "Chrysal"? into the water we were using to stage at the
NDS/Festival Show using my crutch. The plan for the outdoor dahlia display was
designed from the hospital bed. 1990 also saw the introduction of "Radfo"(SSC)
raised by 80 year old Scotsman, Bert Fowler.
In 1987 we started a re-building programme which was intended to cover a period
of eight years, at two year intervals, replace all the existing glasshouses at
both nurseries, the first of which were built in 1938. As I write these notes,
we are three quarters through the scheme, and enjoying the pleasure of working
in modern, light glass with automatic environment control. A far cry from the
broken down glasshouses Dad inherited in 1921.
In 1994, in addition to listed varieties in our
catalogue we had stocks of 54 varieties which are on trial for possible
inclusion in future catalogues. It is certain that many will never reach the
dahlia growing public. It is equally certain that a few of them will make a name
for themselves and carry the dahlia forward into the twenty first century.
Stan Hall.