On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 19:24:43 +0100, Rod
wrote:

Thanks for that, very interesting, I never heard much about/from
Wheatcrofts after I left so it's nice to have some update.
When I was there the great man's main winter sport was going round the
packing sheds in shirt sleeves and shorts and turning the heaters off.
In summer he went to the shows which was bad news for us lesser
mortals, if he was on the stand nobody wanted to talk to us - they
wanted the man himself so we got no commission.

If its any consolation, Harry just revelled in limelight and probably
gave no thought to the fact that he was saving himself (and robbing
you) commission.

BTW they were very good at training late entrants to the industry and
David & Chris were way ahead of the pack in terms of managing and
motivating a workforce.

Yes, their reputation for this was widely known at the time - I
remember half wishing I lived close to Nottingham. However, in those
early days, Webbs were pretty good and although they were catapulting
towards mass garden-centre-ism, there was still something of the 'old
days' when I was there. I enjoyed working for them

F.A.B. (Fab) Newnham the nursery manager during my time was an
excellent grower, he left shortly after me to manage a big new garden
centre nr Nottingham.

Aha! There's a name I haven't heard of in a while. I'm sure he must
have still been there during my first years. I remember coming up to
the rose grounds during one summer to look over the stocks to be
lifted later that autumn. What a fabulous sight it was, acre after
acre of roses. I even had a go at budding - boy what a physically
demanding and back-breaking job that is. How those guys could work so
fast, for so long, in such an impossible position and still get a good
take, escapes me. A hour at it helped me decide that budding roses
'gang fashion' was not for me.


Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November