THE MASONIC HALL AT LYMINGTON
This was the year I got lucky, and stole all the silver ware, I was about thirty three - that's my winning three vases of five on the left. When I moved to 1242 Christchurch Road, my next door neighbour Eddie thought the steel framing I erected to cover the blooms looked a bit like a prison camp - he called it Colditz. I wouldn’t mind, I painted the framework a lovely dark green, and when it was covered and the flowers started to open it was a fantastic magical place - funny thing was he never once refused any blooms I gave him. After a few years, I introduced him to the growing side, and he won a cup at the Bournemouth Horticultural Society Show. He never stopped telling me about it, and how easy it was to win a cup; the variety we used, for you chrysanthemum lovers was Peter Rowe an early flowering medium incurve with faultless form - to it’s credit, and to the one who raised it - it is still in the catalogues. Needless to say I supplied everything he used to procure his win, and kept on badgering him to look after them, happy days.